Anne Krebiehl for The Drinks Business Hong Kong ... - AnneInVino

54-58 German PinotTSgs_Layout 1 30/01/2013 20:16 Page 56
german pinot noir
COMING OF AGE
It seemed odd that in a climate so similar
to Burgundy, on often ancient vineyards
of limestone, slate, volcanic rock,
sandstone and loess, Spätburgunder –
Germany’s moniker for Pinot Noir –
should be so very different from its
admired French brother. Spätburgunderdominated
regions like Ahr and Baden
routinely thermo-vinified most of their
Pinot Noir into fruit-driven, light red for
regional consumption. In the 1980s some
pioneers set to work and a whole
number of factors coincided: immense
viticultural progress combined with
climate change meant ripe, red grapes;
an uncompromising drive for quality
meant drastically reduced yields;
training, international outlook and
experience meant new red-wine
expertise in a predominantly white wine
producing country. Domestic demand for
red wines meant the doubling of
Spätburgunder plantings from 1990 to
2010. The development of looseclustered,
small-berried German clones
released in 1999 to rival French clones
and planted by ambitious growers who
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Spätburgunder: top regions and producers Source: Anne Krebiehl
The regions Top producers Who to watch
Ahr: a narrow, northerly slate ravine along the Weingut Meyer-Näkel Weingut Deutzerhof
river Ahr with an amazing meso-climate Weingut Jean Stodden Weingut JJ Adeneuer
Baden: Germany’s warmest, sunniest and most southerly Weingut Bernhard Huber Weingut Bercher
region with volcanic, loess and limestone soils Weingut Dr Heger Weingut Ziereisen
Weingut Franz Keller Schwarzer Adler
Weingut Salwey
Weingut Karl H Johner
Weingut Reinhold & Cornelia Schneider
Pfalz: protected, warm and sunny region with a huge Weingut Knipser Johannishof Weingut A Christmann
mix of soils – limestone, sandstone, red slate and loess Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz Weingut Philipp Kuhn
Weingut Friedrich Becker Weingut Dr Wehrheim
Franken (Franconia): sandstone and clay Weingut Rudolf Fürst
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer: steep slate sites Weingut Markus Molitor
Rheingau: mica schist and slate Weingut August Kesseler
Württemberg: southerly region with marl and gypsum soils Weingut Schaitmann
Weingut Dautel
Rheinhessen: numerous limestone and slate soils Weingut Keller
Winzerhof Thörle
also tended their own massal selections
was crucial; as was a complete mental
shift from quality to quantity: rather than
grubbing up 1950s high-yield clones as
their productivity waned, growers
preserved these vines, which now yield
concentrated fruit with a uniquely
German savouriness, reminiscent of
lovage and bay.
By the turn of the millennium, it
became acceptable, even cool, for
Germans to drink Spätburgunder. While
the wines initially flirted with too much
extraction and over-oaking, they have
now come of age. With 11,756 hectares of
Pinot Noir planted (more than Australia
and New Zealand combined), it’s only
natural that there should be a growing,
exciting, ambitious and distinctive fine
Spätburgunder segment and some
exceptional wines.
Despite prices between e40 (HK$405)
and e120 per bottle, the top wines
regularly sell out – at the cellar door, in
retail and in the on-trade. Mauer
explains: “These are small vineyard
parcels, labour is intense and production
structures are similar to Burgundy and
Piedmont; prices are justified.” While
Spätburgunder has improved immensely
across the board, Mauer also stresses that
this is only true for a handful of top
producers with limited output. Their
wines, however, are sought after.
“Increasingly [wine] collections are built
up which are no longer purely French,”
says Mauer. However, there is no
secondary market for these wines yet,
says Michael Unger, partner at
auctioneer Koppe & Partner: presently
Spätburgunder is bought to be drunk.
Internationally, news of this new Pinot
Noir from the Old World is slowly
filtering through. “People are a bit
confused about what ‘Spätburgunder’
means, but the more informed merchants
have seen that these [wines] have a