Tasting Notes

The KIRCHBERG has always a cool aroma due to the evening winds. It is carried by an invigorating acidity, natural Pinot Noir fruit and a soft tannin structure. KIRCHBERG wines always need a few years of bottle aging in order to reveal their full potential.

Vinyard, Soil

The Kirchberg is a 4,5 hectare lot made up mainly of volcanic soil with some limestone inclusions here and there. Tephrites are the parent rock material in this denomination, while phonolites fill deeper crevices. The Kirchberg enjoys full south and some southwest exposure and – to the north – is bordered by a former quarry, which today serves as a nature reserve. At 30 % slope and a rugged and stony surface it poses a challenge in cultivating. In the year 2006 we laboriously remodeled part of the Kirchberg, giving it back its original slope which was lost in the `70ies to extensive landscaping in the area. The vines have an average age of more than 40 years.

Style

dry

Varietals / Clone

100% Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder), partly new small- and mixed-berried clones gained by the selecion massale method and partly older stock of 5286-clones from the Kaiserstuhl.

Winemaking

The average yield for this wine is around 30 hectoliters per hectare. The grapes are fermented with 100% of their stems. After meticulous sorting of the grapes the mash starts an open fermentation process with its natural yeasts at temperatures between 25º and 33º C during which tannins and color are released from the skins through frequent pumpovers the skin cap. The wines usually ferment for 14 days. Once the fermentation comes to an end, they are pressed and filled into new burgundy style oak barrels. The wood for these barrels is won from our own trees in the Kaiserstuhl and shipped to selected Tonneleries in Burgundy for processing. After aging in partly new oak for an average of 12 months the wine is bottled without filtration. Hence some turbidity may occur, which however adds to the wines complexity and aging potential.