Germany turns red

As recently as 2002, American wine critic Robert M. Parker claimed, “German Pinot Noir is a grotesque and ghastly wine that tastes like a flawed, sweet, faded, watered-down red Burgundy from an incompetent producer.” This statement was already absurd and wrong at the time. Today, more than ten years later, it is even more so. More and more producers can score with their Pinot Noirs in this country.

That German Pinot Noir is getting better and better, we could already state three years ago after our tasting Pinot Noir speaks German. While our focus at that time was essentially on the best and most renowned Pinot Noir producers, our attention was now primarily on some up-and-coming talents and real insider tips.

Admittedly: Not all the wines we tasted made it easy for us. With some, we were not quite sure what to expect from them in the future. Our jury therefore held back a bit with high ratings and concentrated maybe more than usual on the current state. However, the current condition of almost all Pinot Noirs still leaves plenty of room for upward fantasies.

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Traditionally better known for white wines and especially Silvaner, the Franconian winery Bickel-Stumpf shows that Reimund and Matthias Stumpf can also handle Pinot Noir. The 2006 Thüngersheim Johannisberg presented itself to our jury as a finely fruity, elegant and modern representative of the grape variety, which despite its maturity still has potential for further ageing. Stylistically more Burgundian than German, it shows a discreet pithiness typical for red sandstone influences.

Mario J. Burkhart was once an employee and later cellar master at Bernhard Huber in Malterdingen. In 2001, he went into business for himself with his own wines. He consistently bottles Landweine and does without the official test number. Two of his Pinot Noirs from the Fahrental had a hard time with our jury, whereby the 2011 was not to be rated because of a pronounced reduction note. A second bottle of the wine was transformed only a few weeks later. The reduction notes had disappeared, and we found a finely fruity, highly elegant and velvety Pinot Noir that we were happy to give the recognition it deserved. We have never experienced such a transformation within such a short time, and if the textbooks had their way, it would not have been possible.

In 2007, Sven Enderle and Florian Moll founded the Enderle-Moll winery, and from the very beginning they have been committed to produce wines that are close to nature. They have dispensed with official quality wine testing. From the single vineyards cultivated by Enderle and Moll come two Pinot Noirs, which are characterised by the respective soil type, shell limestone and red sandstone. At the time of our tasting, they still seemed very closed and did not allow for a safe prognosis. We will taste them again in a few years, but we expect a lot from both wines.

Just a few years ago, the Schumacher winery in Herxheim, under the management of Michael Acker, caused a sensation with its excellent Pinot Noirs. Acker has since left the winery. In cooperation with Christoph Hammel from Kirchheim an der Weinstraße, the project wine Spätburgunder hoch 2 was created. We hope that Michael Acker will soon be able to continue his earlier successes at a new location.

C. A. Immich – Batterieberg is still a Riesling winery. Gernot Kollmann has revamped the vineyard on the Middle Mosel, which is steeped in history but in need of renovation. The 2010 Pinot Noir from the Enkirch Monteneubel polarised within our jury. The future will show whether the critics are right or whether the wine will develop well despite all the prophecies of doom. We will stay on the ball!

Dr Henrik Möbitz is a chemist in his main profession. On the side, he produces wines full of character that do not fit into any pigeonhole. The four Pinot Noirs we tasted from different sites and from the vintages 2007 to 2010 were completely unadapted and extremely individual, but nevertheless (or precisely because of this) they were fully convincing. However, they probably still have their best time ahead of them.

When the Stadt Klingenberg winery was privatised in 2010 due to economic problems, Benedikt Baltes, who comes from the Ahr, acquired it together with a business partner from China. It now bears the name Stadt Klingenberg – Benedikt Baltes. On the steep slopes of Klingenberg, Baltes, who previously gained experience at Adeneuer in Ahrweiler and Juris in Gols, produces great Pinot Noirs. The first vintages of 2010 and 2011 already hint at enormous potential here.

In the neighbouring municipality of Erlenbach, Verena Waigand, previously employed by Benedikt Baltes, has now taken over responsibility as cellar master at her parents' A. Waigand winery, which is run on a sideline basis. Her remarkable Pinot Noir comes from the Erlenbach Hochberg, the extension of the Klingenberg Schlossberg beyond the village border.