Wasenhaus

Wassenhaus Winemakers
Wasenhaus Vineyards
Wasenhaus Vineyards
Wasenhaus Vineyards
Wasenhaus Vineyards
Baden, Germany
Wassenhaus cellar
Wassenhaus cellar
Wassenhaus wine bottles
Wasenhaus Winemakers

Photography and writing by Ted Vance.

Christoph Wolber (on the left) and Alexander (Alex) Götze met in Burgundy while getting their enology education at the local school in Beaune. At the same time they both worked full time jobs between some of Burgundy’s top biodynamic estates: Alex has spent nearly a decade between Pierre Morey (where we first met) and De Montille, where he is currently the chef de culture(the vineyard manager), and Christoph had some years at Leflaive, Bernhard van Berg, Domaine de la Vougeraie and Comte Armand. Shortly after they became roommates, they hatched a plan to return to Germany and start a new project in Baden, a wine region that sits on the east side of the Rhine Graben, across from and within sight of the Alsatian wine region, all in a valley that separates Germany’s Black Forest from France’s Vosge mountains.

It is difficult to imagine in a blind tasting that their Pinot Noir wines are German—no surprise considering their extensive apprenticeships in the world’s greatest Pinot Noir producing region. In fact, their top Pinot Noir, Bellen, would be difficult to place anywhere other than Burgundy, at least for anyone less experienced with Burgundy wines.

Their first vintage is 2016 and it was an incredible start. The style is as lifted and charming as it is serious. There are no tricks here, just a reverence for their fruit and a solid knowhow in both the cellar and vineyards. Their wines are crafted with clear intention; there’s no way anyone could achieve their level of quality in the first go-round by accident.

They are soft on extraction with very few punch downs during the fermentation, only the occasional movement of the cap, mostly by hand, to insure a healthy beginning. Sulfur is used judiciously (no more than 30-50 parts per million in total) and not applied until after malolactic fermentation. Their theory on the timing of the first sulfur addition is that the tannins would be more smoothly integrated than with additions beforehand, especially when there are whole cluster fermentations involved. (When it’s added during the vinification period—including primary and malolactic fermentation—the wine has more time to clearly define itself; while those that have earlier additions before fermentation potentially maintain harder tannins that could take much longer to evolve in the bottle, it leaves some of the best potential moments of the wine’s life subordinate to a potentially overbearing tannic structure.) The wines are all aged in oak barrels, but it’s too early to say what their practice will be from one vintage to the next concerning the amount of new oak—they are still discovering what works.

Burgundian monks were the first to bring the grapevines to the area, but the vines have adapted to their climate and soil types, which make them quite different than Burgundy, despite how surprisingly similar the Wasenhaus wines are to some from the Côte d’Or. However, one challenge to the grape selection in this highly industrialized area is that many of the ancient clones were replaced in the 1960s and 70s by easy to manage clonal selections that produce good yields and are more easily worked by machines. One of the tasks (and adventures) of Wasenhaus is to (re)discover vineyards within Baden with good clonal material and recoup a resemblance to the historic voice of Pinot Noir in Baden.

While Alsace is a known myriad of small geological units, Baden has tremendous diversity but on a much larger scale; it has granite, volcanic, limestone and every other soil in-between. (There is a lot already written about the influence of these soil types on wines on our website and elsewhere, and in the Wasenhaus wine pages the details for each wine will be discussed.) One unique and strongly defining geological feature in Baden that affects the shape and characteristics of their wines is the amount of löess topsoil that covers many of the hillsides with the western exposure, and more so than those facing south or east. Löess is a fine-grained and mineral-rich sandy soil (often rich in calcium) derived from rocks ground down by glaciers. This fine silt-like soil is then carried afar and deposited by the wind where it has created a surprisingly structured soil; this is due to its crystalline structure that allows it to lock into place with other loess crystalline particles. (Read more about loess here) Löess soils seem to round out of the edges of a wine and bring a sort of soft richness to its body.

The weather in Baden is closely related to its French wine producing neighbor toward the west, Alsace, and is Germany’s warmest wine producing region. During the winter and spring there is a plentiful supply of precipitation, but the weather takes a significant turn during the summer and fall and vineyards with some distance from the Black Forest become some of the driest zones in all of Germany. -TV

Wasenhaus Spatburgunder

Wasenhaus - 2020 Spätburgunder – Pinot Noir

Price: $42.00
Size: 750ml
Availability: 

Out of stock

Type of Wine: Red
Grape(s): Pinot Noir
Style: Mineral, Elegant and Aromatic
*Maximum discount 10% for this product
SKU: WSS20 Category: Tags: , , , Click to see what states we ship to

The Wine

The first wine in their range of Spätburgunder  wines (the German name for Pinot Noir) is a charmer and a terrific introduction to their serious range of reds. Like all of their Pinot Noirs, it’s fermented with natural yeasts. It also has 10% whole bunches in the mix along with the remainder destemmed during its gentle, infusion-style fermentation. After a year in barrel and six months in stainless steel, the wine transforms its slightly more sternly textured tones (Alex and Christophe attribute this to the stems) to a wine with soft edging and bright, fresh red fruit. The vineyards sites for it are south of Baden and within sight of Switzerland’s beautiful town of Basel. Atypical for this region known for its heavier clays and marl (calcium carbonate mud stones), these vineyards are more limestone and sand. Other vineyard sources are grown on limestone and löess, a combination of soils that lends complexity and unexpected range to this wine. It’s beautiful and should make it into your next order to at least give the wine a try. We imported only 20 cases (because that’s all they had for us, otherwise we would’ve taken more), and his other importer, the well-known German wine specialist, Vom Boden, probably about the same. Not so much for the entire US market for a wine that belongs on every great wine list in the country.

INFORMATION DISCLAIMER

Terroir: Baden is likely Germany’s warmest wine producing region. Winter and spring bring a plentiful supply of precipitation, but during summer and fall becomes one of the driest zones in all of Germany. This wine is composed of grapes from two vineyard sites south of Baden and within sight of Switzerland’s beautiful town of Basel. Atypical for this region known for its heavier clay, marl (calcium carbonate mud stones) and löss, these vineyards are more limestone and sand.

Vinification: Made with 10% whole bunches and 90% destemmed grapes, the wine is gently extracted during its two week fermentation. Sulfur is used judiciously (no more than 30-50 parts per million in total) and not applied until after malolactic fermentation. Their theory on the timing of the first sulfur addition is that the tannins will more smoothly integrate than with sulfite additions before either fermentation, especially when whole cluster fermentations are involved.

Aging: One year in old 228-liter barrels followed by six months in stainless steel. No fining or filtration.

(Subjective and based on young wines)

Ageability:

Drink YoungShort-Term BenefitsLong-Term BenefitsUnknown

Technical Precision:

NatureModerateNurture

The Vineyard

Soil:

A combination of vineyards grown on limestone bedrock with sand and limestone berock and löess

Farming:

SustainableOrganic CertifiedBiodynamic CertifiedUncertified Naturalist

Irrigation:

ForbiddenNeverSometimes

Vine Age:

20 and 30 years old (2019)

Altitude (meters):

200; 250-300

Aspect:

West and northwest

Slope:

Flat terraces
(typical numbers; not vintage specific)

Enological Additions:

Sulfites

Total SO2:

None AddedVery LowLowMediumHigh

Alcohol:

12.5 - 13.50

pH:

3.7-3.8

Titratable Acidity:

6.0-6.5

Residual Sugar:

Dry

Notes compiled in 2019 by Ted Vance (The Source) and Alexander Götze (Wasenhaus)

About The Wine

The first wine in their range of Spätburgunder  wines (the German name for Pinot Noir) is a charmer and a terrific introduction to their serious range of reds. Like all of their Pinot Noirs, it’s fermented with natural yeasts. It also has 10% whole bunches in the mix along with the remainder destemmed during its gentle, infusion-style fermentation. After a year in barrel and six months in stainless steel, the wine transforms its slightly more sternly textured tones (Alex and Christophe attribute this to the stems) to a wine with soft edging and bright, fresh red fruit. The vineyards sites for it are south of Baden and within sight of Switzerland’s beautiful town of Basel. Atypical for this region known for its heavier clays and marl (calcium carbonate mud stones), these vineyards are more limestone and sand. Other vineyard sources are grown on limestone and löess, a combination of soils that lends complexity and unexpected range to this wine. It’s beautiful and should make it into your next order to at least give the wine a try. We imported only 20 cases (because that’s all they had for us, otherwise we would’ve taken more), and his other importer, the well-known German wine specialist, Vom Boden, probably about the same. Not so much for the entire US market for a wine that belongs on every great wine list in the country.