If you’ve been a subscriber for more than a few months then you already know how much we love Pinot Noir, aka Spätburgunder, from Baden. There may be no place in the world that has such a perfect combination of history and terroir for growing Pinot in the current climate conditions than this southwestern corner of Germany. A long standing favorite estate is the Schneider family, who have been farming the majestic limestone slopes of Markgräferland for over six generations. However, 2017 was a devastatingly tough vintage for them, and they lost most of their yield to frost. Luckily some friends in nearby Kaiserstuhl helped them with some surplus fruit so they could make more than a couple cases of wine. The only catch is that Kaiserstuhl is volcanic soil, not limestone. No worries, they bottled a lovely Pinot Noir and called it “Vulkan.” It’s a pure, Baden beauty and the price is outrageously good. Grab as much as you can!
Over the past 10 years, German Pinot Noir has risen from an interesting yet inconsistent curiosity to a must-know category. The Spätburgunders (German for Pinot Noir) grown in Baden were the prime movers for that change. Pinot has a past in Baden almost as long as in Burgundy, but the wines from here have long been overlooked outside of their home country. A new generation of extraordinarily driven winemakers aims to correct that, and the Schneider family is at the forefront of the movement. Unlike the other German regions, red wines rule the roost here. Indeed, for every acre of Riesling planted, there’s five of Spät. No one knows exactly when the grape arrived here, but there’s strong evidence it was brought by the same Cistercian monks responsible for its propagation in Burgundy. Regardless of its source, Spätburgunder has grown here for centuries, in what’s become an ideal climate for sensuous yet structured wines.
Baden sits at Germany’s southern tip, just over the border from Switzerland. In fact, the Schneider family farms the southernmost vineyards in the whole country. They work organically, and have begun to introduce biodynamic practices. Their 70+ individual parcels—actually inside a nature preserve—are located in the Markgräflerland subregion. Normally this is where I would wax poetic about the limestone hills here that perfectly mimic Burgundy, but as noted that is not the case for the 2017 “Vulkan.” The vast majority of this fruit is from the Kaiserstuhl region to the north, where the soils are dominated by volcanic rocks. The result is a more savory, slightly smoky take on classic Baden Spätburgunder, but it is every bit as captivating and delicious.
For this tasty little anomaly, Johannes Schneider de-stemmed the berries, fermented them in steel tanks with native yeast, and aged the wine in large, neutral oak casks for 24 months. The result is a stunningly pure, savory, and complex Pinot. A rush of spicy red fruits leads the nose—raspberry, redcurrant, pomegranate syrup, crushed Bing cherry—followed by anise seed, clove, forest floor, struck flint, and mushroomy earth. The palate is medium-bodied and voluminous, with silky, sappy fruit, a deep throughline of crushed rock minerality, and very fine-grained tannins. It’s a long, beautifully balanced experience, an incredible dance between perfume and tension. It’s one of the great Pinot bargains you’ll find. Grab as much as you can, and it probably still won’t be enough!
