2020 Wasenhaus Spätburgunder Vulkan
WINEMAKER: Christoph Wolber & Alexander Götze
REGION: Baden, GER
VARIETAL: Pinot Noir
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
This is Wasenhaus’ Pinot Noir from the Kaiserstuhl region, grown on volcanic soils – thus the reference to “Vulkan.” It is sourced from a few parcels: One vineyard is quite high in elevation in the town of Eichstetten and one vineyard is on the Achkarrener Schlossberg, for those scholars of the Kaiser’s chair. Half of the wine is fermented completely destemmed and the other half is fermented whole-cluster in an open-top fermenter for roughly 18-20 days. The élevage is for about 18 months in mainly used barrels. Pair with lava and Star Trek.
Weingut Wasenhaus is located in Baden, Germany. Christoph Wolber and Alexander Götze met in Burgundy during their wine studies at the local school in Beaune. At the same time, they were both working full time in some of the largest biodynamic estates in Burgundy such as those of Pierre Morey, Leflaive, Comte Armand... Shortly after becoming roommates, they worked out the plan to return in Germany and set up their cellar in Baden. In Christoph’s home region, they looked for suitable plots and selected them carefully: one on the slopes of the Ehrenstettener Oelberg, and the other in the Ehrenkirchener Kirchberg. In recent years, they have bought several plots, some with very old vines. They grow their grapes, but also buy grapes from friends’ companies with a similar philosophy that are used in the production of Gutedel. Their first vintage came out in 2016 and it was a great success. Christoph and Alexander perform gentle extractions, with very little punching down during fermentation, and occasionally stirring to ensure healthy fermentation from the start. Sulfur is used judiciously and is only applied after the malolactic fermentation. The wines are all aged in oak barrels.