2021 Emil Bauer Riesling Trocken

Emil Bauer is Dr. Bürklin-Wolf‘s estate bottling drawn from parcels across the Mittelhaardt, the celebrated stretch of the Pfalz that runs through Forst, Deidesheim, and Wachenheim. The soils here are a patchwork of weathered sandstone, basalt fragments from ancient volcanic upheaval, and deep loam and limestone that retain warmth and moisture through the growing season. This is the mid-slope terroir that gives Pfalz Riesling its characteristic breadth without sacrificing definition. Bürklin-Wolf has farmed biodynamically for over a decade, and the Emil Bauer cuvée reflects that discipline: fruit is harvested by hand, yields are kept moderate, and the winemaking is deliberately non-interventionist, allowing the vineyard’s voice to carry through rather than being polished away in the cellar.

The 2021 vintage, cooler and later-ripening than recent Pfalz years, has sharpened this wine’s focus. On the nose, white peach and quince give way to lime pith, wet stone, and a whisper of chamomile. The palate opens with a saline, almost briny minerality before ripe orchard fruit fills the mid-palate, and the acid arrives not as a jolt but as a sustained, chalky current that carries the wine long across the tongue. There is real textural weight here, more suggestive of a Pfalz Riesling’s traditional generosity than a lean Mosel counterpart, yet the cooler season has preserved a taut, linear spine that keeps the wine from feeling heavy. Flavors shift from citrus zest through stone fruit to a flinty, almost smoky finish that lingers with quiet persistence.

This is a wine built for both immediate pleasure and short-to-medium term cellaring. The 2021 vintage’s naturally high acidity gives it a longer runway than warmer years typically allow, and over the next several years the primary citrus and orchard fruit notes should deepen into notes of dried apricot, honeycomb, and petrol, while the mineral core sharpens further. It is a Riesling that rewards patience but never demands it.