Meyer-Nakel Ahr Pinot Noir Blue Slate 2018
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E has always been the parade grape variety on the Ahr – and not without reason. The sensitive diva is like hardly any other red grape variety able to reflect the influences of soil conditions and microclimate in an extremely differentiated way. That alone makes it worth all the effort that the difficult Pinot Noir demands in cultivation. Especially in connection with our extraordinary slate formations on the Ahr, our work here is rewarded with wines that can only be produced in our region. Provided you know how to preserve the fine characteristics in the ageing and, for example, not to make up with barrique aromas. Then really large, worldwide unique Pinot Noir is created.
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Delicate hints of burnt caramel and leather work to accent crisp, cutting notes of sour cherry and fresh strawberry in this briskly composed Pinot Noir. While full bodied and silky in texture, it maintains a transparency of fruit and pert acidic structure that's invigorating. Approachable young, it should continue to improve through at least 2030 and hold further.
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2021-
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Werner Näkel was chosen wine maker of the year in 2004 in the Gault-Millau. He is a visionary that revolutionized Pinot Noir production the Ahr region. In 2011, Fallstaff, the leading wine publication in Austria, chose Werner Näkel for its highest award: his life’s work in wine! In 2008 Decanter Magazine bestowed on Meyer-Näkel the International trophy for Pinot Noir. Quoting Decanter, “It’s a fantastic achievement for Germany to win this trophy. Imagine it – they have beaten Burgundy, New Zealand and Oregon, all the acknowledged Pinot regions of the world.”
Meyer-Näkel produces 10,000 cases annually and is a member of the VDP and the German Barrique Forum. He also produces wines in South Africa and in the Douro Valley of Portugal.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
