Grande Cuvée Exquisit – 2018

Grande Cuvée Exquisit from Griesel Sekt, 2018 Vintage

The 2018 Grande Cuvée Exquisit from Griesel Sekt is the house's top sparkling wine, made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier, aged for forty-six months on the fine lees, and bottled with zero dosage. 1,484 bottles of this vintage were produced.

Grande Cuvée Exquisit 2018 is the pinnacle of the Griesel Sekt range between the Odenwald and the Rhine Valley, produced only in years that allow for it. While the 2019 successor features four grape varieties, this vintage uses three, with Pinot Noir accounting for more than half.

Jasmine over quince and a tart edge

The bouquet opens with candied kumquat and fragrant jasmine, with green apple and ripe quince lying underneath, and fine brioche from the years spent in the cellar at the very back.

On the palate, the perlage carries it first, soft and without any sharpness. Then, an acidity of 7.5 grams per liter takes over, elongating the impression. The oak influence only emerges as a tart spice towards the end, and that is where it stays. Anyone looking for sweetness here will look in vain, as nothing was added during disgorgement.

Pan-seared turbot is a fitting counterpart, as is a quail or an aged Beaufort. A light appetizer plate would be beneath its stature, as it demands a counterbalance. Because it takes its time, it improves in the glass rather than fading, and it can easily last an entire evening.

More Pinot Noir than in the year that followed

At fifty-six percent of the cuvée, Pinot Noir provides the foundation, while Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier share the rest equally. Two red varieties against one white creates a balance of power that is not apparent from the light color in the glass.

The high proportion of red grapes explains why this vintage feels broader in structure than its successor and places more weight in the mid-palate. Without Pinot Blanc, it lacks its composure, but in exchange, strength and spice stand out more prominently.

The grapes for all three varieties grew on the Bergstraße, where the soil barely holds water and the breeze from the Odenwald keeps the nights cool. Herbicides are not used in the vineyards, and cover crops grow between the rows year-round. Harvested entirely by hand in September 2018, the grapes were pressed so gently that well over half of the potential juice remained unused.

Four summers between tirage and disgorgement

The cuvée was bottled on July 19, 2019, with filtration and fining also omitted here, and the tirage initiated the second fermentation. Previously, seven-tenths of the base wines had rested in stainless steel, and three-tenths in tonneaux. The wine breathes in these 500-liter barrels without ending up tasting of oak.

This was followed by forty-six months on the fine lees, interrupted only by regular riddling until the bottles stood upside down and the yeast left the neck in June 2023. What happened during those four years can neither be accelerated nor cut short. The sparkling wine received no dosage, and no sulfur was added during disgorgement.

Those looking for a direct comparison can find the 2019 Grande Cuvée with its fourth variety, alongside the late-disgorged version of that same vintage. The house's other traditional method sparkling wines can be found on the sparkling wine shelf.