Pinot Noir Heimbourg 2022

A red wine with pure fruit and grippy tannin. It opens with sweet wild raspberries, cassis and black cherries, along with peony and violet. With exposure to air, truffle, forest floor, liquorice and leather emerge. Ample aeration is worthwhile.

The parcel measures 0.32 hectares and lies in the Heimbourg single vineyard in Turckheim. It faces west, with soil made up of iron-rich, red Oligocene limestone. Here the vines ripen slowly, developing a fine aromatic profile. Olivier Humbrecht farms the estate biodynamically.

100% Pinot Noir. The high planting density and low pruning keep the grapes small, maintaining a high skin-to-juice ratio. Destemming is done entirely by hand on an old-fashioned, perforated wooden board that also serves as a sorting table. Fermentation takes two weeks and involves minimal intervention. The wine flows by gravity into barrels aged two to four years, and is bottled without filtration or fining.

The juiciness of the nose carries through, supported by refreshing acidity, a still-pronounced tannin structure and mineral depth. At 12.5% vol., the wine remains lean and dry. Its ageing potential is considerable, and cellaring pays off.

Venison medallions with poached apple, rosehip jelly and gingerbread sauce, sweetbread cassolette with juniper-pinot smoke sauce, turnips and pearl onions or bulgur salad with beetroot, raspberries and tarragon.

The estate's only red wine. In 2021 the vines produced no grapes due to mildew; in 2022 the rested vines once again yielded a decent harvest.