Hallgartener Frühernberg VDP Erste Lage 2022

A Pinot Noir whose elegance comes from precision: silky in structure, deep, with delicate yet present tannin and a taut acidity that gives the wine a long, piquant finish.

The vines stand in the Frühenberg parcel within Hallgarten's Schönhell vineyard, a ridge shaped like an amphitheater opening to the south. The soils are somewhat lighter and gravelly, with fluvial and marine sediments.

A pure Pinot Noir from a selection massale sourced from a fellow winemaker friend in Burgundy and planted in 2006. After hand harvesting, 75% of the grapes were hand-destemmed, and spontaneous fermentation proceeded with 25% whole clusters. Fermentation was taken to 1.9 grams of residual sugar, with 5.7 grams of acidity and 13% vol. Ageing lasted 12 months in barrique with 50% new oak.

Silky and charming, with fruit of cherries and blue fruit at the onset of ripeness. The nose shows cherry and wild berries, cinnamon and clove, a toasted, smoky wood note, along with iodine and violet. The oak is of the finest quality, the tannin noble, the acidity taut.

The estate in Oestrich-Winkel is run in its twelfth generation by Peter Bernhard and Viktoria Kühn, who farm its 21 hectares according to biodynamic principles; it has carried the Demeter seal since 2009. Restraint governs the cellar: spontaneous fermentation, no fining, minimal use of sulfur. The fact that a Pinot Noir of this calibre emerges here, alongside an assortment that is almost exclusively Riesling, makes this bottle an exception in the range.