Description

Another winner from 2014 vintage is Bernhard Huber Alte Reben. alte Reben means old vines, in this case 20-40 years. The wine is a blend of Bienenberg and Sommerhalde and gets 50% new oak. It has red fruits, rose petals, smoke/flint and lots of mineral at its core. There is a wonderful balance of weight and silk that makes it great drinking now but I think its got a lot of time ahead of it.

The Huber Winery in Malterdingen is in the deep South – West of Germany. Located on the foothills of the Black Forest mountains between Strassbourg in the French Alsace Region and the city Basel in Switzerland. Of the approximately 25 ha they cultivate round 65% is Pinot Noir. Huber’s base of Malterdingen has a wonderful Pinot Noir tradition. Having the Cistercian monks bring the traditional grape vine from Burgundy over 700 years ago (the first documented planting was in 1285). About 8km away from Malterdingen was a big Cistercian monastery: the Monastery Tennenbach. These Cistercian monks also had a “curia” in Malterdingen. A kind of estate, where the monks managed all their vineyard work. This Curia is the location of the Huber winery.

Baden

The Cistercian Monks brought Pinot to this region over 700 years ago. The climate and soils complete with limestone matched the Burgundian Terroir and the Pinot Noir or Spatburgunder can make some seriously great wines that will rival Burgundy.

Pinot Noir

This is the most elusive grape. It is relatively early ripening and extremely sensitive to terroir. Its perfect place on earth is the Cote d’Or in Burgundy. So haunting are great red Burgundy’s charms that growers everywhere try to emulate them. Pinot Noir is not just a one trick pony, it can make great reds, rosé, sparkling and even sweet wines, whites on occasion and I’ve tasted a decent fortified Pinot Noir too.