Manna Badischer Landwein 2022

A dry Pinot Noir at 13.5% vol., built juicy and dense and carried by crisp acidity. A wine that seeks the company of food, ideally fruity dishes with oriental notes.

The Mannaberg, shortened to Manna for wine-law reasons, is an extremely steep site, very hot and very dry. The vines grow on loess, partly on dolomite rock. Yields are very low, the berries stay small and concentrated and occasionally recall elderberries. Mediterranean herbs grow in the vineyard: thyme, rosemary, lavender, juniper and marjoram.

Pinot Noir, called Spätburgunder in Baden. Marco Pfliehinger and Uwe Lange have been making wine in St. Leon-Rot since 2015 in a radically hands-on style: the whole grapes go straight into open fermentation vats, pressing is done on an antique basket press. Fermentation and malolactic fermentation happen spontaneously, with no fining or filtration. The wines age in used barriques in a 17th-century vaulted cellar, the old village forge, and are bottled by gravity and hose, corked by hand.

Black cherries, preserved plums and blackberries, joined by wild mint, violets and a woody spice reminiscent of pale tobacco and freshly cracked pepper. Juicy and dense on the tongue, yet mineral and refreshing, with spice, acidity and a fine fruit sweetness.

2.5 hectares, worked entirely by hand, following biodynamic principles. At Forgeurac there are no pumps, filters or tractors. Uwe Lange stirs the horn silica preparation at six in the morning. The name combines forge, the smithy above the cellar, with the ending typical of French appellations.