Griesel – Pinot Noir Prestige 2020 – Sekt Brut Nature

The Griesel Sekt Pinot Noir Prestige Brut Nature 2020 is a limited vintage sparkling wine made from Pinot Noir grapes without the addition of a dosage. There were a total of 3,000 bottles of it. The Pinot Prestige is a Blanc de Noir sparkling wine, meaning a white-pressed sparkling wine made from red grape varieties, with aromas of ripe red apple and pear chutney, rosemary and juniper, rounded off by notes of warm pretzel with smoked bacon. On the palate, a powerful, mouth-filling, spicy, long-lasting perlage. The Griesel Pinot Noir Prestige Brut Nature is multifaceted, complex, with good drive, very juicy, until at the end the vibrant tension and freshness remain.

This Griesel Sekt was tasted for the first time by Stephan Reinhardt in the Wine Advocate and rated with Parker 92+ points.

Sekthaus Griesel – how the Pinot Noir Prestige is created

The grapes for this Griesel Blanc de Noir Sekt grow on soils of the Hessian Bergstraße, which are characterized by a high granite content, so that the vines have to dig deep into the earth. This and the cool winds from the nearby Odenwald ensure a good acid structure and minerality in the base wines.

The Pinot Noir grapes were hand-picked in September 2020 and then pressed very gently. As in Champagne, Niko Brandner also knows the importance of gentle pressing, because the less tannins and wax from the berry skins get into the must, the finer and more long-lasting the perlage in the sparkling wine can become. Only about 50% of the juice present in the berries is pressed off.

In the cellar, Niko Brandner gives things time, so the grapes are allowed to ferment spontaneously and undergo malolactic fermentation, in which the malic acid in the wine is converted into the milder lactic acid, which gives the wine a special mouthfeel and creaminess. Cellar master Brandner combines large and small stainless steel (40%) and wooden (25% barrique + 35% tonneau) barrels for aging, which gives the sparkling wine more complexity.

A year later, in July 2021, the Pinot Noir is bottled without filtration and fining and given the tirage to initiate the second fermentation in the bottle. Now it is allowed to rest and mature on the fine lees for another 34 months in the cellar built in 1904. It is regularly riddles and the bottles are increasingly turned upside down, until at the end during disgorgement (July 2023) the yeast plug is removed from the bottle and the Griesel Sekt Pinot Noir Prestige Brut Nature comes to market without the addition of a dosage and without the addition of sulfur. Acidity 7.2g/l

Sparkling wine with time and enjoyment

A Griesel Sekt of the Prestige classification is produced using traditional bottle fermentation. After bottling the base wine, it matures on the lees for at least 34 months and undergoes the second fermentation, the conversion of wine to sparkling wine. The long yeast contact ensures a fine perlage and notes of brioche, of fine yeast dough, in the sparkling wine Griesel Sekt Prestige.