Ziereisen - Wunderkinden in Baden
In the southernmost part of Germany, wife and husband team Edeltraud and ex-carpenter Hanspeter Ziereisen have become one of Germany’s most talked-about star winemakers.
January 9, 2024
In the southernmost part of Germany, wife and husband team Edeltraud and ex-carpenter Hanspeter Ziereisen have become one of Germany’s most talked-about star winemakers. Although self-taught and without pretension, they are passionate to the point of obsession and have been discovered in Germany as the producers of some of the best Gutedel and Pinot Noir, two grapes that, with care, can make extraordinary wines. Their German accolades now percolating abroad We have a little bit of some of their surprisingly moderately priced wines.
2020 Gutedel Heugumber
Just across the border in Germany, Although self-taught and without pretension, they are passionate to the point of obsession and have been discovered in Germany as the producers of some of the best Gutedel and Pinot Noir, two grapes that, with care, can make extraordinary wines. Their German accolades are now percolating abroad
Hanspeter ages his not-so-basic Gutedel, also known as Chasselas in France and Fendant in Switzerland, in oak vats for 19 months and calls it Heugumber, grasshopper in German.
That is an appropriate name for his 2020. It's light on its feet with only 11% alcohol. Despite that, it is satisfyingly mouth-filling, with a nutty, herbal dryness, akin to Gruner Veltliner or cooler climate Marsanne, but more graceful.
Stephen Reinhardt, Wine Advocate " offers a clear and finely aromatic nose. Bottled with 11% alcohol and remarkably fresh acidity, this is a light and crisp yet quite intense, well-structured, stimulating, pure and salty Chasselas with fine, citric grip on the finish.”
2020 Ziereisen Heugumber Gutedel; Aroma: heady rather dense, and savory, rich; Mouth: clean, dry firm, light but transparently pretty herbal fruit, long with a touch of salinity; Very Good Plus 125.99; case 21.99
Ziereisen Spatburgunders, (Pinot Noirs)
I have tasted and liked all these wines. The Rhini will be classic with age
Notes from Stephen Reinhardt Wine Advocate
2017 Blauer Spatburgunder
From own and purchased grapes and aged in traditional large oak vats for 22 months and nearly two years in the bottle, it offers clear, fresh, tart, and sweet-sour cherry aromas on the slightly reductive but precise and inviting nose. Silky, fresh, and filigreed on the palate, this is a medium-bodied, vivacious, and straightforward red wine with pure cherry fruit, good freshness, and fine grip. Very pleasant to drink now and over the next 3-5 years. $24.99, Case 21.25
2017 Blauer Spatburgunder Talrein
from a fascinating vineyard 500 meters above sea level, cultivated on limestone soils with an iron-rich layer of loam. It offers a pure, fresh, refined, and fragrant bouquet of ripe and concentrated cherries, dried flowers, crushed stones, and blood. The wine is silky-textured, pure, fresh, and persistently salty on the palate, with a long, intense, and juicy finish that is carried and structured by fine tannins and vibrantly refreshing mineral acidity. This is probably the finest Talrain Ziereisen has produced so far. The combination of freshness, purity, finesse, and concentration is really remarkable here, as is the long, tight and salty-firm finish $40, case $34
2018 Blauer Spatburgunder Rhini
from Jurassic soils with iron-rich layers of loam and aged in barriques for 20 months, exhibits a dark and intense cherry color and a corresponding deep, intense and concentrated yet also pure nose with dark fruit aromas intertwined with spicy and toasty notes as well as a hint of new oak (15% new and 85% aged Assmann barriques). The fleshy character of the nose is proceeded on the palate, which reveals a full-bodied, dense and generous Pinot with great intensity and elegant power. This unfiltered Pinot is rich, fine, fresh and elegant and develops a long, tight and tensioned finish with ripe yet palatable and spicy tannins that give the 2018 positive astringency and excellent aging potential..” $79, case $67
- Len Rothenberg
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