2018 Burg Ravensburg Blaufränkisch 'Dicker Franz' Grosses Gewächs

100% organic Blaufränkisch. “Fat Franz” was Baron Franz Göler of Ravensburg, a renowned 18th century gourmand. The steep monopole grand cru named after him, however, gives rise to strikingly fine and intense wine, stripped of all needless weight but brimful of power and spice. Hand harvested, native yeast fermentation, neutral oak, and bottled unfiltered.

Burg Ravensburg, in the village of Sulzfeld, not far from the fabled university town of Heidelberg, in the extreme north of Baden, has a documented history going back to 1251, making it one of Germany’s oldest estates.

96 points, Falstaff. "Intense and attractively ripe aroma, dense, complex, sour cherry, blackberry, herbal spice, almost balsamic, with wet stone. Good tension and drive on the palate with ripe, textured tannins, very good acidity, ripe, red fruit, juicy with a long finish."