Pinot Noir speaks German

Four countries – one variety

27 February 2010
Werner Elflein

Pinot Noir, the queen of grapes

The fact that world-class Pinot Noirs are now occasionally produced in Germany, the land of white wines, is nothing new to many connoisseurs of the subject, even if wine drinkers, especially those with a Francophile bent, often elevate the supposed original from Burgundy to the dubious measure of all things. They tend to ignore the fact that, in addition to the chalky soils of Burgundy, the slate slopes of the Ahr and the red sandstone soils of Franconia, for example, also produce impressive and very distinctive Pinot Noirs that have no need to hide on the international stage. The Pinot Noirs from Switzerland, which also have a say in the race among the best “German-speaking” representatives of the grape variety, are mostly completely unknown in this country and were virtually unavailable in Germany until recently – and if so, then usually not at consumer-friendly prices. But not only in Germany and Switzerland, also in parts of Austria and South Tyrol excellent Pinot Noirs are produced.

For our tasting, we spared no effort to bring together a representative selection of the best wines of the grape variety from a total of four nations.

As our guest, we had the pleasure of welcoming Gerhard Stodden from Rech, whose Pinot Noirs from the steep slopes of the Ahr are among the best that the still young German red wine culture produces. It therefore came as little surprise that the two wines from his estate Jean Stodden took the top places in our blind tasting together with a Pinot noir from Markus Molitor.

Behind Jean Stodden and Markus Molitor, a broad chasing pack formed in which the high-class Pinot noirs from the four participating countries essentially met on equal terms. There were hardly any outliers at the bottom, and if there were, they were still very good wines.

The wines at a glance

Paul Achs

Neubaugasse 13
7122 Gols
Austria
Phone: +43 2173 2367
Internet: www.paul-achs.com
E‑mail: shop@paul-achs.com

🯅	The rating of the wine is based on a single taster. The taster is named in the context of the rating. The tasting was either open or blind. In case of a blind tasting, it is explicitly labelled as such.
🯅🯅	The rating of the wine is based on two tasters. The tasters are named in the context of the rating. The tasting was carried out according to the four-eyes principle, in which both tasters agree on a joint rating.
🯅🯅🯅	The rating is based on a tasting by our jury and indicates the Mean value calculated by us from the individual ratings of the tasters. Our mean value is based on the median.
⚖	The wine was evaluated in a blind tasting. We have strict rules for blind tastings. The tasters do not receive any information that would allow them to identify the wines. The tasters are only given access to further information that goes beyond the subject matter if it is absolutely necessary for understanding the wines.
🕓	We only had limited time to taste the wine - typically during an open tasting event, such as a wine fair. It was therefore not possible to observe the development of the wine in the glass over a longer period of time. The informative value of our rating may therefore be limited under certain circumstances.
⛬	The wine was tasted as a barrel sample or before an official test number (Amtliche Prüfungsnummer or Staatliche Prüfnummer) was issued. We only accept samples of unfilled wines in exceptional cases, and then only if we can assume sufficient stability in the bottle for a period of at least three months.
▲	During our tasting, the wine showed conspicuous sensory characteristics. This does not necessarily have to be a wine fault. We categorise the quality and quantity of the abnormality and include it in the rating. Wine faults such as cork taint or an atypical ageing generally lead to a complete rejection.
	Tastings that refer to the same bottle of a wine are visually summarised by a dotted line.

The wines at a glance

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