Henkell Finest Sparkling Wine Brut
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Henkell Brut Vintage is a full-bodied, vinous sparkling wine which attracts the wine connoisseurs with a well-balanced and lively bouquet. Subtle aromas of citrus and tropical fruits. Crisp, full-bodied, well-balanced with excellent acidity.
Enjoy on its own, or pair with appetizers, fresh seafood, grilled meat and vegetables and fruit desserts.
In 1832, Adam Henkell founded a wine merchant company and soon thereafter, moved to France to master sparkling wine production. Recognizing the quality potential for a German sparkling wine, Henkell returned in 1856 to his native Germany and set his sights on producing quality sparkling wine on German soil.
Twenty-five years after creating his wine merchant business, Henkell had a wine cellar and sparkling wine facility built in the city of Wiesbaden in Southwestern Germany. The city, often called the “Gateway to the Rheingau”, sits on the northern bank of the Rhine River. The Rheingau is one of Germany’s 13 officially recognized regions for quality wine production (QbA) and extends along the banks of the Rhine River.
What makes Henkell so distinct is the perfect marriage of the Charmat Method and the Méthode Champenoise. Unlike most sparkling wines produced utilizing the Charmat Method, Henkell leaves the wine in stainless steel for six months for a slow natural fermentation. After six months, the sparkling wine is bottled and then aged for a minimum of three additional months. This unique method of producing high-quality sparkling wine gives Henkell a rich complexity, with a fruit forward lightness that is distinctly German and most uniquely Henkell.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
As the world’s northernmost fine wine producing region, Germany faces some of the most extreme climatic and topographic challenges in viticulture. But fortunately this country’s star white wine variety, Riesling, is cold-hardy enough to survive freezing winters, and has enough natural acidity to create balance, even in wines with the highest levels of residual sugar. Riesling responds splendidly to Germany’s variable terroir, allowing the country to build its reputation upon fine wines at all points of the sweet to dry spectrum, many of which can age for decades.
Classified by ripeness at harvest, Riesling can be picked early for dry wines or as late as January following the harvest for lusciously sweet wines. There are six levels in Germany’s ripeness classification, ordered from driest to sweetest: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein (ice wine). While these German wine classifications don’t exactly match the sweetness levels of the finished wines, the Kabinett category will include the drier versions and anything above Auslese will have noticeable—if not noteworthy—sweetness. Eiswein is always remarkably sweet.
Other important German white wine varieties include Müller-Thurgau as well as Grauburguner (Pinot Gris) and Weissburguner (Pinot Blanc). The red wine, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), grown in warmer pockets of the country can be both elegant and structured.
As the fourth largest wine producer in Europe (after France, Italy and Spain), in contrast to its more Mediterranean neighbors, Germany produces about as much as it consumes—and is also the largest importer of wine in the E.U.