Dorky Summer Wine 2012
I realize that the amount of updating I do on my little wine blog is “constant” and “at a neck breaking speed” and that many of you can’t possibly keep up with all the “award winning” content that flies out of my brain and onto my keyboard and then into your internet reading device.
I strive to be the best “professional wine blogger” that you know.
The summer of 2012 will be remembered as a good summer. There was a heck of a lot of Champagne drunk - there’s a post right there. But, the one wine that I will remember from the heady days of “Summer 2012” has to be this little jewel:
Producer: Weingut Hahnmuehle.
Spatburgunder + Blanc de Noir + Spatlese
You may have remembered my love of German pinot noir (I sure do like it) from a few years ago. In Germany, pinot noir is known as “spatburgunder” - I’m assuming that “burgunder” has something to do with the grapes spiritual home of Burgundy.
So, this wine is made from pinot noir, which of course is a black grape.
If you make a white wine from a black grape (great example is champagne) the french would call it “blanc de noir” which of course means “white from black”. Already, the wine is dorky. You don’t often see non-sparkling pinot noir made as a white wine.
Spatlese. The Germans have a pretty cool system of rating how ripe the grapes are when they are picked. The riper the grape means there is more sugar which can increase the alcohol, but also any actual sweetness as well as the body of the wine. I’m used to seeing spatlese used on a label buying riesling indicating that I’m buying a wine that is a bit off-dry and could have a tad residual sugar. I’m not used to seeing it on bottles of pinot noir.
To summarize why this is my dorkiest wine of the summer:
1. White wine
2. Pinot noir
3. Off-dry
4. German
