2018 Kalkofen Grand Cru Pfalz Dr. Bürklin-Wolf

This wine smells much as the name of its gently sloping source – “chalk kiln” – would lead you to expect: as redolent of chalk and dusty stone as any Chablis, a comparison especially apt when one factors in smoky and faintly fusel notes. There is an aura of oak via caramelized resin that one seldom encounters among Bürklin-Wolf Rieslings, but Libelli is phasing in quite a few relatively new casks, “and we felt that Deidesheim, with its bright fruit and salty minerality, can handle the wood better [besser ertragen kann].” As I perceive it, the palate here tells a slightly different story. It’s lush, favoring ripe peach and mirabelle, without the mineral elements that seemed to have been promised on the nose. Although the wine is analytically low in acidity, an attractive sense of animation accompanies its richly fruited, oak-inflected and undeniably sustained finish, where a bit of chalkiness also comes through. But there isn’t any refreshment. The wine was due for bottling at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020. Hopefully I can revisit it. In the meantime, I remain very conservative in my estimation of age-worthiness.