Palatinate Pinot Noir – 2021

2021 Pfalz Spätburgunder from Weingut Rings matured in used barrels

The 2021 Pfalz Spätburgunder from Weingut Rings is a bone-dry red wine from the Palatinate, pressed from small-berried grapes of French clones grown in Kallstadt and Freinsheim vineyards. The wine spent fifteen months in used barriques, which allow for oxygen exposure without imposing a woody taste.

2021 Pfalz Spätburgunder is the red VDP.Gutswein from Weingut Rings in Freinsheim, grown as a varietal Spätburgunder in organically farmed vineyards. This tier highlights the grape variety itself rather than the characteristics of a specific site, which is why the Kallstadt and Freinsheim plots are processed together in the cellar. With 13.0 percent alcohol, it remains slender in structure, and what sits in the glass is a red without a trace of sweetness.

Ripe sour cherry, clove, and a long arc of acidity

On the nose, ripe sour cherry leads, mingled with hints of clove and a touch of black pepper, as imparted by warm Palatinate summers on thin-skinned berries. There is no trace of vanilla or toasted oak, and that is entirely intentional.

On the palate, the wine becomes dense and juicy without ever feeling heavy. The tannins are finely woven and support the fruit rather than constricting it. It flows across the tongue bone-dry, and a lively arc of acidity kicks in at the end to cleanse the palate.

For duck breast, red cabbage, and braised beetroot

A red with this level of acidity pairs particularly well with dishes that have a sweet edge, as it balances them out instead of amplifying them. Conversely, cold sauces with high vinegar content are not good companions for it.

Classically, it goes well with roast duck breast with red cabbage, braised beetroot with horseradish, or a mild soft cheese, whose creaminess cushions the fine tannins. It shows its best at 16 degrees Celsius; in a warmly heated room, it tends to lose its freshness and broaden out. If you take it out of the cellar a quarter of an hour before eating, you will hit the perfect temperature.

An opened bottle keeps well for two days if sealed, and on the second evening, the fruit usually feels even more restrained and the tannins softer. Intended as a red wine for everyday drinking, it requires neither a carafe nor a long wait. Those looking for a rounder counterpart should try the 2022 vintage alongside it.

Why a used barrique benefits Spätburgunder

A new barrique imparts vanilla, coconut, and toasted aromas; while many red wines handle this well, this one does not. Spätburgunder works with bright, delicate tones that a fresh barrel would simply cover up. A barrique here acts not as a spice, but as a vessel with slow breathing properties.

For this reason, Rings puts the wine into barrels that have previously held another vintage. Their pores have long been saturated, so they hardly release any aroma into the contents. What remains is the slow pull of oxygen through the staves, which rounds out the tannins over fifteen months without letting the wood take center stage.

Even before the harvest, double shoots are removed by hand so that each vine only carries as many grapes as it can fully ripen. The grapes are also harvested by hand, sorted again at the winery, and destemmed, with fermentation initiated naturally by the vineyard's indigenous yeasts. To see where this red stands in the winery's portfolio, check out the hub for Weingut Rings.

2021 Pfalz Spätburgunder – a red wine and its specifications

• Origin: Germany
• Growing region: Pfalz
• Winery: Weingut Rings
• VDP.Gutswein
• Grape variety: Spätburgunder
• 13.0% vol alcohol
• 0.1 g/l residual sugar
• 6.2 g/l acidity

Organic control number – DE-ÖKO-022 German Agriculture