A Pinot Noir Awakens in Alsace
What does Alsace’s new red cru signal for Pinot Noir?
Volume 21, The Pinot Edition
October 2024
October 2024
Dear Readers,
For all the abundance of native varieties and successful crossings found throughout German-speaking lands, growers and wine drinkers come back to one beloved import again and again and again.
Clevner, Klebroth, Blauburgunder, Spätburgunder — Pinot Noir. They are the same grape, known by regional names that give local identity to a variety that now calls everywhere home.
In Volume 21, we devote ourselves to all things Pinot.
We start with no less an authority than Anne Krebiehl MW. She offers an essential, constructively critical assessment of where the promise of German Pinot has been realized, and where not.
Next comes Camilla Gjerde’s exploration of the carbon-neutral farming at Mythopia that gives rise to three of Switzerland’s most extraordinary Pinots. The inimitable Sebastian Bordhäuser romps through the freewheeling realm of Pinot Landwein. Paula herself reports on the Mosel’s first Pinot Noir GG — a telling turn for ancient Ruwer Riesling estate Maximin Grünhaus.
Beauty is all in the balance. So you’ll also find Matthias Neske on Muschelkalk as a wine-making vessel (taking terroir to another level in Franken), along with Håvard Flatland dissecting the elements of greatness in Austria’s Heiligenstein, Ani Duzdabanyan on Alpine Sylvaner, and more.
Our gorgeous cover illustration for this volume is by Meg Maker. Her personal response to the Pinot prompt captures our electric excitement for the many layers of this complex grape. We hope it does for you, too.
Eure
Paula and Valerie
