Dupont de LigonnèsRiesling Tausendsassa 2018 (750ml)

All three wines are sourced from the same tiny, .08-hectare vineyard, just outside of Dresden; these are the royal vineyards of Wachwitz. Most of the vines here are around 40 years old and planted on weathered granite, which is pretty common in the area, if a bit unique for Germany at large.

This is the most exuberant of the wines; it is fantastically aromatic, floral. If all the wines seem to show references to other regions or wine styles, this is unabashedly a wine of the south (remember, this northern region is not necessarily much cooler than many of Germany’s other winemaking regions; the growing season is simply shorter, see our article “So you wanna know about Saale-Unstrut and Sachsen, eh?”) – the floral quality is more fresh than the garrigue of the south of France, but there is a warm generosity to the wine that speaks of an easier landscape. The “Tausendsassa” is perhaps the most elegant, most finessed and not linear, but drawn-out of the wine. It has immense length, billowy satin shaped from polished granite – something like that.

To pay homage to the aristocratic history of the site, all the wines have been given invented names, the Wes Anderson thing of creating deeply strange characters. This bottling is perhaps the most Wes Anderson: “Tausendsassa” is an outdated word, used, Alexandre told me, by his grandmother (who was from the south in Bavaria) who would lovingly call the grandchildren this. It’s hard to translate, but it means in a way a “jack of all trades,”  someone both energetic and skilled, yet also a bit mischievous. As per the winemaking, Alexandre is farming organic and all the ferments are natural. The wines are unfiltered and sulfured slightly only at bottling.