28 Apr Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Weingut Ziereisen 2015 Blauer Spatburgunder, Baden, Germany

The song goes “You like potato and I like potahto; You like tomato and I like tomahto” and I will add that you like Pinot Noir and I like Spätburgunder and we should not “go our own way” because they are the same! Spätburgunder is the German name for Pinot Noir and the Weingut Ziereisen 2015 Blauer Spätburgunder from Baden, Germany is the Please The Palate wine of the week.

Burgundy may be Pinot Noir’s homeland but Germany is the world’s third largest producer of Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder) is to red wines in Germany as Riesling is to white wines – the best of the best!

Pinot Noir is grown throughout Germany. Weingut Ziereisen is located in the southern part of Baden, in a town called Efringen-Kirchen, directly on the Rhine river at the border of Alsace and Switzerland. The closest city is actually Basel in Switzerland. Efringen-Kirchen provides a cool climate and limestone soils, similar to Burgundy.

Weingut Ziereisen is owned by Hanspeter and Edel Ziereisen who founded the winery in 1991. Today they have 21 hectares and believe that quality starts in the vineyard. They do not use any chemical fertilizers or sprays and do everything by hand.

The Pinot Noir is sorted first in the vineyard and then again in the cellar. For the Blauer Spätburgunder, Ziereisen’s entry-level Pinot Noir, the grapes undergo native fermentation and macerate for four weeks, before being aged in large oak casks for 24 months. The wines are bottled without filtration or fining and are matured further in the bottle.

The Ziereisen 2015 Blauer Spatburgunder ($20) has aromas of a big bowl of berries (cherries and raspberries), mineral notes of crushed stones, and pretty notes of dried flowers, as well as a touch of spice. The wine is medium bodied with fresh acidity that balances the tannins. There is something between the structure and the freshness of the wine that pulls me back for more!

And what should you pair this wine with? Well, what do you like to eat with your Pinot Noir…..everything! Turkey, lamb, chicken, beef, vegetables…..Spätburgunder is a versatile food wine!