Kaiserstuhl Pinot from Wairarapa soil: Johner Estate Pinot Noir 2009, Wairarapa

Today I got another wine from Johner Estate for you. One made from my most preferred varietal: Pinot Noir. As, I have already mentioned in my recent Wairarapa Riesling post, Karl-Heinz Johner is a well known winegrower from Kaiserstuhl/Baden region in the very south-west corner of Germany. After long working years on home soil and abroad (e.g. England!) he and his family decided to open up a second wine pillar on Aotearoa’s North Island not too far away from the capital Wellington. Two weeks ago I had the Wairarapa Riesling which I enjoyed in its own peculiar, or maybe better, unusual way. Today I would like to present you its red counterpart:

The Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2009. It is the wineries entry level Pinot for a more or less reasonable price. Its colour was very ruby red, a bit faint and appeared to look a bit watery on the rim. In my nose I fetched fragrances of strawberries, raspberries, maybe with a mild imprinting of marmalade, chicken soup (?) and slight bits of watery cucumber salad. The taste grasped for my palate. It was very fresh, intense and invigorating. A description I might never use for his Pinots from Baden in Germany. Its body was pretty light without being thin or boring. The acid was well integrated. The alcohol might have been a little bit too much for my taste. The fruitiness was semi sweet. Which was okay for me. The complexity of the flavours were contenting. On the one hand I got plenty of light red fruit flavours combined with impressions of rosehip* (*in older vintages of the Gladstone Pinot Noir something I did not really enjoy all too much because it was simply too rosehippie) on the other hand earthy aromas like autumn forest ground and mushrooms. Best of all there was no “oak situation” here! The way I see it this oak problem was and is one of the main problems of his German Pinots (over-oaked and over-extracted fellows). They appear much more New World’ish than some of his NZ Pinots. Although I have to admit a certain “Johner-Baden-Pinot-Paradigm-Shift (JBPPS)” to a more “natural style” (what a stupid expression, can't find a better one right now) took place in recent years. The Wairarapa Pinot did not have such problems. It was swift, accessible, enjoyable, not too monorail’ish and it went down the gullet like nothing.

Kiwi Riesling: Johner Estate Riesling 2009, Wairarapa + ...?!

This time it is Riesling Time (again). I’ll have an interesting Riesling from New Zealand and thanks to Mr Pointless I had the opportunity to try some drops of soma from the Koehler-Ruprecht winery in Pfalz region as well + an easy drinking Riesling from Emrich-Schönleber of Nahe region. 

   
Johner Estate Riesling 2009, Wairapara   

I suppose my first Riesling from Wairapara. But the actual winemaker signature is mostly German. Karl-Heinz Johner is one of the most famous and once notorious winemakers in Baden in the South West of Germany. Over the past decade his Kiwi winery gained a respectable reputation for Pinot Noir wines. In the coming weeks I will try a Pinot from his hand, too. But let’s have his Riesling first.   

In my glass I saw a pretty bright straw-yellow colour. Very clear reflexes. My first impression of the fragrance was: It must be off-dry! Some sweet and light scents of lemon were conquering my nose. Besides that I got impressions of dried hay, matches, kiwi (Hahaha!, not the bird) and some green indefinable whatsoevers. The taste was almost fat and broad. Pretty strong body, too. I sensed quite a lot of residual sugar. But not in an superimposed way. The acid appeared to be well proportioned. In Mosel region this style might be called “feinherb”. The flavours were dominated by lemon aromas, some petrol, sweet soy sauce and hints of peppers. This wine was quiet some surprise to me. It show convincing qualities, a reasonable price and semi refined complexity for a New World Riesling. Not bad at all.

The first wine of the evening was:
   
Weingut Emrich-Schönleber Riesling Mineral 2009, Nahe   

The nose had a lot of flowery tea, hints of lavander, honey, mild apricots and some of my grand aunt’s toilet perfume. The taste was easy, uncomplicated, not too lean and rather precise. I got some exhilarant freshness, it wasn’t totally dry and the acid was fine. The fruitful flavours were white peach and a bit of apricot. For sure a very joyful wine which wasn't all too complex. Just one question rose in my head nut: Why is it called Mineral? My impression gave no assumption to believe to detect a butt load of mineral features. FRUITY (for this vintage)  would have been a more appropriate name ;-)

Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstatter Saumagen Auslese trocken 1998, Pfalz   

Once again some KR Rieslings. Last week I had the 2001 and 1999 Auslese trocken. This time it had to be the 1998. The nose had plenty of white peach, mango, flint stone and nicely balanced smoke. The taste had a rather exotic and by far not as austere style as the 2001 nor the 1999. I got loads of fruits like mango and dark red berries. Some hours later I tended to sense some aromas of pink grapefruit. But not mawkish or cheesy. Don’t u worry! This Riesling was elegant, slightly sweet, very accessible and ready to drink. Absolutely different to the other vintages I recently had.

Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstatter Saumagen Auslese R trocken 1996, Pfalz   

Well my beloved audience: This is some WINE! Aged dry Riesling at its best! WOW! I guess it fell straight from heaven. The fragrance was complex, broad, smoky, salty, somehow a bit vanill’y and totally overwhelming. My impression of chicken fricassee nose should be neglected. I consider it as an unnecessary and interesting complimentary fragrance. At least it provided more "character" ;-). The taste was simply fantastic and stunning at the same time. The first hour I couldn’t give any proper description of whatsoever. I suppose I sensed various lemon aromas, salty, creamy, fluffy (?), smoky, creamy, earthy, mineral'y, creamy, hyper complex'y and very damn loooong'y flavours. FAN_TA_STIC stuff!!!

A great Riesling tasting!