Bernhard Huber - Malterdinger Weiss 2017
This time in the glass is a cuvée of Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay from Baden. The Malterdingen Ortswein from the Bernhard Huber winery harvested in 2017.
The new decade starts in the blog as the last one ended: With an Ortswein. This time, however, not a Riesling but a Burgundy cuvée made from Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay. We drink the Malterdinger Ortswein from the Bernhard Huber winery from 2017. Malterdingen is located in Baden, not far from the Kaiserstuhl. The wine was a pure Weissburgunder until 2016 and will gradually change towards Chardonnay. In 2017 the shares will roughly balance each other out. The grapes are fermented spontaneously and then matured in wooden barrels.
Immediately after opening, the nose is already really intense, a bit of animal, a light stink and the wood comes through clearly. It’s good that we drink this over two days I think, it still feels very young. In the mouth crisp acidity and at the same time very creamy. The better half tastes a few green notes. The wine stays for a long time with a cool fruit on the tongue. Not necessarily easy drinking, but there is plenty of excitement.
On the second day the nose is full of wood and roasted aromas. Nutty, with yellow fruit. In the mouth slim, almost sinewy, with minerality and almost like salt that remains on the lips. The acidity cuts, there is spice and all this is even longer lingering on the tongue than it did on the first evening. It doesn’t feel quite round at the moment, it is extremely dense, complex, almost wild and ultra young. But it’s fun. The mixture of the dense nose, the wood, and then the saltiness next to the cool, slim mouthfeel is great.
With a lot of air you can guess where this could lead to. The wine becomes softer, there is more fruit, the wood in the nose decreases. Now there is grapefruit and juiciness. Slim and straightforward it remains fortunately. Perhaps it should have been put in the carafe, or forgotten a few years in the cellar. So be it. Beautiful wine, even now.