Richard Östreicher - Spätburgunder Tradition 2016

Shortly after we bought this bottle of Pinot Noir, I had accidentally read somewhere that you should leave this wine alone for a while. Since that time I creep around the bottle and weigh curiosity against patience until inevitably patience lost. That said, I really like 2016 in Riesling anyway, so I thought it might be similar in Pinot Noir. Richard Östreicher makes wine at the winery of the same name in Sommerach in Franconia. And in addition to the Silvaner, which is so typical for Franconia, the heart in the winery beats particularly intensely for Burgundy varieties. The vines for these wines are often clones from Burgundy, but the plot from which the Pinot Noir Tradition comes was already planted with Franconian vines by the father. From the grapes of these vines, which are over 40 years old, the entry into the Burgundy range of the winery is pressed. However, anyone looking for the wine today will search in vain. Since the 2018 vintage, the wine is being bottled under the name Hallburg. In the vineyard, manual labor determines the year. After hand harvesting, the Pinot Noir was aged in used wood.

The wine smells of berry and feels quite cool in the nose. There’s a bit of cherry and some strawberries mixed with a touch of forest floor and leather. The fruit is really nice. In the mouth there is texture and softness at the same time. It also has a bit of balsamic vinegar without but the acidity to it. There is acidity, of course, but it’s still super fresh and juicy. And also on the tongue you have the fruit, the cherry, the strawberry and a very gentle tannin at the end. This is cool, elegant and reduced to the essentials. Uncomplicated but not simple.

Overnight the aromatics become a bit denser and more interwoven. The forest floor has become more, but the fruit is still there. There is also a tiny bit of eucalyptus. The wine is completely dry and the acidity pulls juicily on the tongue. In general, the wine lingers in the mouth for a long time. I think the timing of the drinking is just about right as well. The charming fruit in tandem with the slight maturity from leather and forest floor make a good team. When you consider that this wine cost well under 15 euros, it’s all the more impressive. It’s a shame that this was our only bottle. When the range gets going like this, you can’t help but feel like drinking the rest of the wines.

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