Dupont de LigonnèsMüller-Thurgau Marquis von Momue 2019 (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 wine is Friuli meets Dresden, filtered through the granite soils here. The wine is 80% Müller-Thurgau with the rest Morio Muskat; the wine saw nearly five weeks on the skins. And while this is most certainly an orange wine, it is finely structured, the tannins compact and somehow pulverized-feeling. Notes of deep melon, orange skin and dried herbs was across the palate, along with a dense core of mineral. As with all the wines, the wine has good mid-palate heft, it is glycerin-rich and concentrated, yet the acidity is pushing and the wine is defined and energetic.

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. Here, the Marquis is given the shorthand name of the two grapes used in the cuvee: “Mo” for the “Morio” and “Mue” for the “Müller-Thurgau” – in German the “ue” is a way of indicating the umlaut over the “u.” As per the winemaking, Alexandre is farming organic and all the ferments are natural. The wines are unfiltered and sulfured slightly only at bottling.