Kallstadt Pinot Noir – 2021

Kallstadt Spätburgunder 2021 from Weingut Rings grows on cool limestone

The Kallstadt Spätburgunder 2021 from Weingut Rings is a dry village wine from young vines that stand on limestone and calcareous marl in selected Kallstadt parcels. It spent eighteen months in barriques, just under a third of which were new barrels, with the rest in barrels from previous vintages.

Kallstadt Spätburgunder 2021 is a dry VDP.Ortswein from Weingut Rings in Freinsheim, grown in cool Kallstadt sites and harvested from young vines. It is the more elegant and taut representative among the winery's red Burgundies and does not require a heavy stature to achieve this. With 13.0 percent alcohol, it remains light on its feet, delicate and powerful all at once.

Wild strawberries, forest floor, and a trace of smoke

The nose leads first towards light red berries, and what rises up reminds one of small wild strawberries along the roadside. Behind this lies an earthy tone, like the one that hangs over damp forest floor after a rain.

A little smoke mingles in, originating from the wood and receding after a few minutes in the glass. On the palate, the coolness of the limestone is then added, salty and straightforward, with a fine tension that keeps the wine upright.

The tannin is present, but it does not push; instead, it traces the fruit like a thin pencil line. In the finish, it is precisely this saltiness that remains, while the berry fruit slowly fades.

With salmon, Beluga lentils, and porcini mushrooms on toasted bread

A red of this type pairs well with dishes that many wine lovers still look for with white wine, as its freshness extends even to fish.

Obvious choices are pan-seared salmon on Beluga lentils, porcini mushrooms on toasted bread with a little thyme, or a young Taleggio, whose mild creaminess picks up on the wine's salty streak. Braised chicory halves with orange zest also find a calm companion in this wine.

A bulbous glass helps the wine, as the fine berry notes collect there instead of getting lost in a narrow chalice. At 15 to 16 degrees, it is at its most expressive, and the younger 2022 vintage shows the same signature.

Young vines on limestone are not a flaw

Kallstadt is the winery's cool-climate location, and the Spätburgunder from there turns out to be lighter and tauter than anything that grows on the warm Freinsheim sandy soils. As the only village-level wine of this variety from the estate, it bears the signature of the wine village rather than that of a single vineyard.

The vines in these vineyards are still young, which some consider a disadvantage because old vines root deeper and bear more evenly. On limestone, however, the argument is reversed, as this soil hardly stores any water, forcing even young roots to grow deep into the ground early on.

What the vines find there is scarce, and precisely this austerity keeps the berries small and the yields low. Only 3,800 liters per hectare are produced, harvested by hand and sorted once more in the cellar.

The aging is split: 30 percent of the wine matures in new barriques and 70 percent in used ones, both portions for eighteen months. You can find everything else that comes from Kallstadt and Freinsheim in the Weingut Rings hub.

Kallstadt Spätburgunder 2021 – a red wine and its data

• Origin Germany
• Region Palatinate
• Winery Rings
• VDP.Ortswein
• Grape variety Spätburgunder
• 13.0% vol alcohol
• 0.2 g/l residual sugar
• 6.1 g/l acidity

Organic control number – DE-ÖKO-022 German Agriculture