Holger Koch 'Spätburgunder Kaiserstuhl' Swabia 2021

From the vineyards that belong to Holger Koch and his wife Gabriele in southwestern Germany, it is just a short drive to the French border. Their wines, in similar fashion, straddle the divide between a German and a French sensibility. Their spätburgunder (pinot noir) line-up shows the lean, bright fruit of a colder German climate, with the mineral complexity and length that Burgundy is famous for. For this cuvée, in fact, 40% of the harvest comes from Burgundy vines grafted into Holger’s “Kaiserstuhl” vineyards. Located at the bottom of the slope, those vineyards are more sheltered from the wind and have soils higher in loess than the terraced, volcanic-soil plots higher up the hillside. This wine macerates for 14 days in large wooden casks, fermenting with indigenous yeasts, before aging for 11 months. It is bottled without fining or filtration. Cozy cherry chocolate on the nose precedes a lively dance of bright cranberry, raspberry, and sour cherry on the palate. Organically grown, low-intervention/natural wine.