Spätburgunder Bellen

He's a real fox, our Martin Lunter. He's had Wasenhaus on his radar and, more importantly, in his cellar since the first vintage in 2016. One fine day, Martin shared a 2016 Bellen with us. Wow, I was mightily impressed. Until that day, it was Friedrich Becker's 1990 Pinot Noir that topped my German red wine charts. But Becker couldn't keep up with the barking. Thank you, dear Martin, for showing us who makes the best reds in Germany! On west-facing, very steep, weathered limestone soils, where everything is best done by hand, French and German genetic material combine to produce fantastic fruit, which is transformed into great wines in the cellar without any frills, as is always the case at Wasenhaus. A good proportion of the grapes are not destemmed and the fermentation starts as a maceration carbonique, which is replaced after a few days by an open mash fermentation. yes, but only a little and very carefully. Dark fruit, blueberries perhaps, or is it black cherries? No matter, dark fruit, as I said, together with a hint of roses and a touch of herbs, altogether a rather introverted, cool, but incredibly deep fragrance. Breathtaking how the wine takes possession of the palate, fills it, but also immediately shows off its powerful structure; crumbly tannins give the wine a sensational grip. But of course there is enough extract to balance the structure and give the wine a juicy, harmonious, almost endless finish. GREAT and unfortunately hard to come by!