One of the unexpected things that has happened at Fass Selections is that we have popularized a new category. That category is German Pinot Noir. As can be expected, for a new category, it is not generally well understood. While Germany has as much stylistic terroir variation for pinot as France does, all German pinot is German pinot (as opposed to France where wine buyers have a keen understanding of the differences between the various AOCs). We have producers from the Middle Mosel, Pfalz, Baden, Franken, Wurrtemberg and the Rheinhessen. All of these regions have distinct styles. They are vastly different from one another due to terroir, winemaking and a number of other factors.
I decided to put a stake in the ground and try and define the stylistic differences in the various regions of Germany. I recognize that as more elite German pinot producers pop up, the number of “regions” will increase and Baden will have many sub-regions just as Burgundy does. But, we have to start somewhere.
I started selling German Pinot Noir (aka Spatburgunder) as a quirky oddity when we only worked with Enderle & Moll and Henrik Möbitz. We started with the '11 vintages for both, which was a success at Möbitz but a bit awkward at Enderle & Moll although if you caught certain wines at the right time you could see what was to come. Now Möbitz and Enderle & Moll are some of our top producers and amongst our most allocated wines as Burgundy lovers have fallen in love with the wines.
So what happened? Sven Enderle and Henrik Möbitz both improved as winemakers and with their vineyard techniques, they acquired new land and the vines got older and of course people tasted the wines and loved what they are doing. Since that time, we have picked up a number of German Pinot Noir producers to go alongside these initial stars. The US market generally views Germany as just one amorphous blob of German Pinot Noir and it's quickly becoming as complex as Burgundy can be albeit with fewer quality producers at present. That is changing, however, as German winemakers learn the complexities of making red wine from each other.
Below is a list of the top Pinot Noir regions, producers and a very general description of the styles.
Ahr
Comparative Region: What pre global warming Irancy would taste like if it were oaked to death
Top Producers: None recommended
This is the first region many think of when one thinks of German Pinot Noir. With Meyer-Nakel and Jean Stodden leading the way the style is one I don't particularly care for.
Terroir
It is cold in the Ahr as it is north of the Mosel and the northernmost wine region in all of the world that is dominated by red grapes. The soil is slate dominated with some basalt and clay of volcanic origins.
Style
Werner Nakel introduced oak into the region and the combo of new oak, highly toasted and it being cold you had somewhat not perfectly ripe grapes slathered with new oak. Not a good recipe. They are also the most tannic of all the German Pinot Noir regions and while Werner Nakel's contribution cannot be dismissed (he was the first person to really make oak influenced reds in Germany) the Ahr, with its oak-dominated style, cannot be considered one of the top German red wine regions or styles. It's oak, extract and sometimes green flavors but at the end of the day it is oak. Your mileage may vary.
Mosel
Comparative Region: Nuits St. Georges meets Volnay
Top Producers: Stefan Steinmetz, Spater Veit, Markus Molitor
I'll admit I have limited experience with Mosel Pinot Noir compared to other regions in Germany but I'll give it my best shot. This is based on tasting multiple vintages of Stefan Steinmetz, Spater Veit and to a lesser degree Markus Molitor. I've tasted only Middle Mosel Pinot Noir and one from the Enkirch/Traben Trarbach from Gernot Kollmann at Immich-Batterieberg but that wine at 10.5% is more of an outlier because it is so different and unique. Vin de Soif Pinot Noir but one that can age well.
Terroir
The soils are generally very poor, like Burgundy and very stony, more stony than Burgundy and more stony than all other German Pinot regions I've been to. Obviously they are slate. It's not CDP stoney but it's right there. The Mosel is a very northernly wine region that has hot days and cool nights which are perfect for the ripening of Pinot Noir. I find Pinot does better in cooler climates and the Mosel is about as cool as it gets.
Style
Style
For me the style of Mosel Pinot Noir is kind of like Nuits St. Georges meets Volnay. They've got the stuffing and rich dark fruits like a Nuits St. Georges can have but also with proper age comes the haunting finesse and aromas that a great Volnay can exhibit plus the stony minerality reminds me of Volnay. It's a lot to take on blind faith but once you've had enough this makes sense.
The fruit is dense, thick, sweet and complex. The more serious wines from the top vineyards (I've perhaps tasted examples from about less than a dozen vineyards) in Piesport, Kesten, Wintrich and more all have significant tannic structures and seem to significantly benefit from short term aging. The aromas after proper aging are some of the most glorious in all of Germany.
Producers
Spater Veit, Steinmetz and Markus Molitor are the top 3, and in my opinion Spater-Veit is #1. The wines remind me of Chevillon. Spater Veit only releases his top cuvees the #1 and the P at a minimum of 5 years after the vintage. I tasted some younger vintages and they were promising but impenetrable. What I imagine young Gouges would taste like in the 50's.
Steinmetz is #2 and his wines remind me of d'Angerville/de Montille with some Regis Forey Vosne vibes. The structure on Steinmetz is awesome and with 3-5 years of age, watch out. Mosel Pinot Noir is gaining in recognition and popularity but there are few quality producers so little to draw on in terms of bold talking points about style and the such but there is tremendous promise.
Keep an eye on the Mosel.
Franken
Comparative Region: Pommard/Corton with a dash of Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge
Top Producers: Furst, Walter
Franken was my first introduction to the heights German Pinot Noir can attain. I visited the great estate of Rudolf Fürst in the small picturesque village of Burgstadt back in 2006 for the first time. It was then that I had my Franken and German Pinot Noir epiphany. I was floored by the wines. We tasted 05s and that is a great vintage in Franken (well in Fürst's area, as the other area of Franken is white wine territory with Riesling and Sylvaner ruling and only tiny amounts of Pinot Noir) and the depth, complexity, textures, aromas and price were all very Burgundian but with a twist that comes from a great site, in this case the Centgrafenberg, Schlossberg and Klingenberg. They all provide incredible character and a new canvas for a Pinot Noir style that I did not know existed. Tannic, spicy, deep, meaty, ripe, juicy, incredibly evocative of place and intensely structured, these wines, which I've tasted almost every vintage since, were what I cut my teeth on in German Pinot Noir and somewhat shaped me for a while.
Terroir
The soil is mostly red sandstone so you get a unique type of mineral character from that. Franken is a very northerly wine region that has hot days and cool nights which are perfect for the ripening of Pinot Noir. I’ve walked these vineyards with Christoph Walter in August and it was hot. At night though it cooled down significantly.
Fruhburgunder is a variant of Pinot Noir that ripens earlier. As such, it is fresh and juicy and (in the proper hands) the palate expression is a perfect compliment to the scalable aromatic heights that Pinot Noir can attain. The grapes themselves are so delicious that the winemakers have to spend a huge amount of effort to prevent the wild boars from eating them. The boars know their stuff.
Producers
Furst is the top guy in Franken for Pinot Noir and one of the top 5 in Germany. Paul Furst, singlehandedly put German Pinot Noir on his back and 1990 he made glorious Pinot Noirs that firmly put Germany in the eyes of Pinot Noir lovers. Joseph Walter, who I work with is down the road and sources all from the Centgrafenberg and is a tremendous winery.
The Germans are a people that do not lightly flout authority, even if they disagree with it. They even follow the speed limit. But when the German government melded the legendary, historic Hundstruck vineyard into Centrgrafenberg, it sparked a revolution of sorts (even though Centgrafenberg is one of the best vineyards in Germany and not exactly chopped liver). In a very un German way, my good friend Sebastien Furst thumbed his nose at the German authorities and in 2003, started selling Hundsruck (without the 't') as a fantasy name. It became his most heralded wine and the German authorities eventually relented and brought Hundstruck back from the dead with 2011 being the first vintage of its second life.
The wines have this meaty, gamey, earthy and densely fruited style. These wines are packed and never shy in acidity. Both make excellent Fruhburgunders in addition to their lineups of traditional pinots.
Walter is an interesting producer in that he releases his pinots 5-7 years after harvest so that they are at their peak. He makes wines in the same vineyards as Furst (Centgrafenberg and Hundsturck) and works the vines next to his good friend Sebastien. He is not as famous as Furst and his wines are about a third the price as a result. Like Furst, the wines are densely fruited and well balanced with meaty overtones. The Hundstruck is a particularly powerful and concentrated wine but more Pommard-like than California.
There are a few other high quality producers in this enclave of Franken but I have limited experience with them. Notably Benedict Baltes.
Style
The style here is Pommard/Corton in my opinion with also a dash of Chassagne-Montrachet Rouge. Rugged refinement and sometimes getting to heights that are only attainable here as with the Hundsruck bottlings from both Walter and Fürst.
Baden
Comparative Region: Vosne Romanee
Top Producers: Möbitz, Enderle & Moll, Ziereisen and Holger Koch
Baden is big and Baden is bad-assed. So bad-assed it demands its name be said twice as in Baden Baden. I also think in terms of Pinot Noir it is the apex of what German Pinot Noir can be. Between Möbitz, Enderle & Moll and Ziereisen that is like Leroy, DRC and Meo-Camuzet. I must mention Holger Koch as well for he makes divine Pinot Noirs but I do regret not having tasted more. They are rare and hard to find but he makes a dizzying array of quality levels with his top bottlings which can be some of the best in Germany.
Style
Style
For me the top Pinot Noirs of Baden are simply put, some of the best and most sublime Pinot Noirs in Germany and the world. The Pinot Noirs of Baden remind me the most of Vosne Romanee. Spices, exotic fruits, deep sexy fruit, almost kinky and unapologetically Pinot in its most sultry form is what Baden does best.
Terroir
This is much more southerly and near France and thus warmer, so you can get riper grapes which leads to more sexy, kinky and voluptuous wines. The soils are mainly limestone and some sandstone.
Producers
Möbitz's vineyards are right outside Freiburg in a village called Ehrenstetten in an area called the Alte Oilberg. He has three vineyards sites that have three different soil types. Kapelle, which he debuted a Pinot Noir from there in 2014, is mostly sandstone. While Kanzell is limestone as is Koepfle. Limestone + Pinot Noir usually = great wine in the right hands. Enderle and Moll also have limestone vineyards. Henrik's wines have a tension unlike any Pinot Noir in Germany as he picks earlier than all of his colleagues. When I was there a few years ago, he was done and all his colleagues grapes were still on the vine. His winemaking is minimally intrusive and his Pinot Noirs are impossible to get. 2015 he was very down to maintain quality and my allocations will be smaller than usual. Oh well. It's a privilege to sell Henrik's wines.
Enderle & Moll are based in Ettenheim and they went against every accepted norm to make some of the best most compelling Pinot Noir in Baden and in Germany. They have sandstone and limestone vineyards with very old vines that they have resuscitated as the dominant local co-op didn't want the old vines as they produced too few grapes. That was music to their ears. They use minimal sulfites, barely de-stem and buy used barrels from Dujac to age the wines. At their best they have the nimble quality of high quality German Riesling plus heavenly aromas and layered, ethereal and sappy palates. The wines are singular and have made many people fans in Germany and stateside. Both Möbitz and Enderle & Moll have vineyards within 20 minutes of Freiburg.
Ziereisen is in a very different area that is near France and Switzerland. They are in a region called the Markgräflerland which is the southernmost region in all of Baden. Most of Hanspeter Ziereisen's vineyards are limestone so perfect for Pinot. It is also a bit warmer down here. He does not have any of his wines classified as AO Baden and most are declassified as "regional" wines but some of his lowly regional wines are some of the most desired in Germany, especially his Jaspis Pinot Noir regular and Alte Reben. They release late as he does things his own way and his own time schedule. The wines need to rest on their less for when he sees fit. The Pinot Noirs of Hanspeter Ziereisen are heavenly, ethereal, sappy and dark fruited mostly except some of the more quaffable ones. He is greatly admired in Germany for his unique oversized personality and his stunning Pinot Noirs.
I must also mention Huber, who is in Baden and considered a great estate, but because they use a lot of oak, I am not a huge fan of their style. Some people who I trust tell me they have eased back on the wood, but until I taste it I can't include it here.
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