Griesel & Compagnie: Pinot Noir Auerbacher Höllberg Dosage Zéro Granit –H– 2019

Parker über: Pinot Noir Auerbacher Höllberg Dosage Zéro Granit –H–

-- Parker: The 2019 Granit –F– Pinot Noir Dosage Zéro Auerbacher Höllberg opens with a remarkably deep, pure and intense yet refined, very elegant and aromatic as well as iodine-infused bouquet of crushed stones, pencil shavings, ripe fruits (red-skinned pears and really red fruits, mainly cherries) and lovely oxidative notes. Full-bodied, rich, round and very elegant on the palate, this is a voluminous yet weightless, mouth-filling, refined and persistently saline sparkling wine with a firm mineral structure and still a certain austerity due to its recent disgorgement. The wine is very complex and widening on the palate yet remains light, fresh and a little austere, if poured into the glass without any aeration. Why not decant it? The wine, now reductive and rather shut down after the lovely opening, doubtlessly indicates a promising firm structure, intensity, finesse and aging capacity. This is a slow-starting Hessian Bergstrasse Sekt to keep for at least two years, I'd say, but really for three or more years, especially because the acidity is currently cutting through everything like a sword or a laser beam (yet delicate, of course). “Pinot Noir needs about two years more from disgorgement than Pinot Blanc,' says winemaker Niko Brandner. 'That suits my personal taste, when it still shows itself as ultra austere, slightly smoky-reductive and snappy with its youthful astringency after disgorgement. Then I have the ideal mix for my palate, when a little nutty oxidative charm is added as a rounding-off element.” His finest Pinot Noir Sekt described above has been disgorged as zero dosage, which means that neither a liqueur de dosage nor sulfur has been added. The wine is to be released in October this year and deserves our attention as well as our patience. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in September 2024.