Knipser Cuvée X – Top Red Wine Cuvée

The Knipser Cuvée X 2018 winery is a dry red wine cuvée made from Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, essentially a classic Bordeaux blend in the style of a Medoc, but from the Palatinate. Like no other wine, it stands for the Knipser house: a top red wine cuvée, outstanding, full of character, refusing to be constrained, a long-distance runner that opens up more and more over time and reveals its full development potential.

It was only in the 1980s that winemaker Werner Knipser "imported" the first vines from France, which EU law made possible for the first time. Back then, when probably no one suspected what a legendary wine would one day emerge from these vines, he met with more displeasure than approval for planting Bordeaux vines in the Palatinate. Today, Cuvée X, from vines now over 30 years old, is a cult wine that does not have to shy away from international comparison.

On the nose, Cuvée X shows fruity, sweet-tart notes of blackcurrants; on the palate, it is characterized by 24 months in new French oak barriques, but is still juicy. This red wine shows density and depth, smelling as if one is inhaling from a small leather tobacco pouch while sitting in the midst of a cedar forest after a summer rain.

A sophisticated red wine that pairs equally well with game dishes, as it does with braised lamb or pan-seared beef.

Winemaking – Knipser Winery

Good vineyard work is a prerequisite for the best wines, which is why the Knipser winery takes important steps to reduce yields through short pruning in winter and green harvesting, or vendage verte, in summer. The vines for this red wine cuvée grow in the best vineyards characterized by calcareous marl rock around Laumersheim. This limestone originated from deposits of calcareous algae that formed reefs in a tropical sea during the Miocene, and it can be found in the subsoil of Großkarlbacher Burgweg, Laumersheimer Kirschgarten, Laumersheimer Steinbuckel, and Dirmsteiner Mandelpfadt. These sites are ideal for all grape varieties that thrive on body and benefit from well-buffered acidity.

The selective hand harvest of the grapes took place in several passes during the last days of October to ensure optimally ripe fruit. At the winery, all grapes are destemmed, meaning freed from their stems. This is followed by classical mash fermentation, which takes several weeks, then gently pressed in a tank press and, after a short settling period during which the large lees settle, transferred to wooden barrels. Here, malolactic fermentation takes place, where malic acid is converted into milder lactic acid, giving the wine softness and a good mouthfeel. Aging in new French oak barriques takes 24 months. Bottling takes place in August before the harvest of the following year.

Cuvée X – a wine and its values

• 62% Merlot
• 28% Cabernet Franc
• 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 14.8% vol. Alcohol
• 5.3 g/l Acidity
• 0.6 g/l Residual sugar

Awarded with

• 94 Points Gault Millau
• 91 Points Eichelmann
• 91 Points Falstaff 

The Cuvée X from Knipser is among the Top 10 wines in the Eichelmann Wine Guide.