Wines arrive from Andi Weigand’s wet and cold 2021, bright with acidity and briney, fleshy fruit. He catches us up on his vintage, and reasons as to why he’s the midwife in the cellar.
Read moreStraight from the Harz
The triumphant return of Konni & Evi, these releases from 2019 & 2018 share the focus & purity that we first tasted in barrel back when we met Konrad Buddrus & Evi Wehner at their cellar in Saale-Unstrut, Saxony Anhalt, near Leipzig.
A thrill to taste these at their best again…
Must Be Some Way Out Of Here...
“Businessmen they drink my wine, ploughmen plough my earth” The next release from Dan & Nic at Offbeat will be with us soon, having been bottled today, the 21st of June. A direct-pressed Pinot Meunier channeling the tension and release of Dylan’s battle cry from his home in the hills.
Read moreThe Cerne Abbas Giant introduces MV01
Winemaker Clare Pestell at Melbury Vale had been struggling to decide what to do with a rogue barrel from her 2018 vintage. Our pal Daniel Ham from Offbeat suggested to Clare that the base wine still had enough yeasts present that it might do well as a Col Fondo…
Read moreA Chat with Jean-Pierre Rietsch
Vins d'Alsace Rietsch
France, Alsace, Mittelbergheim
The Rietsch estate has been in the family for seven generations and the land was previously used for tobacco and crops. It was Jean-Pierre’s parents who started cultivating vines in the 1970s, handing on to Jean-Pierre in 1987.
Although Jean-Pierre is now retired, he still contributes to the daily running, assisted by Pierre-Etienne Grieshaber. While another contributing company – Le Main Verte – coordinates the manual work in the vineyards, the domaine is still very much driven by a family-led culture. The vineyard is naturally cultivated, with terroir at the heart of the operation and no use of chemicals.
We've had a chat with Jean-Pierre on the 2018 Rouge and Blanc au Litre cuvées:
2018 brought us an amazing harvest. We've had a big abundance on grapes, which were really healthy and of great quality. The Rouge au Litre turned out very well and a bit more concentrated than usual. We did have our challenges in the cellar while making this wine due to volatile acidity during fermentation. I had to add 30mg/l of sulphur to help stabilise the wine.
As for the Blanc au Litre, on the contrary to the Rouge, the high yield brought less concentration as well as less acidity. It is a great wine to drink, and I can personally attest to that!
This year we will start the harvest in early September. So far it has been a complicated year as we have lost half of our grapes due to mildew as well as the heatwave this June/July. At the moment there are still a few areas affected by oidium (powdery mildew), so we need to select the unaffected grapes for harvest. In order to balance out the harvest results I will be blending some of the 2018 and 2019 vintages.
White*
NEW 2018 Blanc au Litre - Riesling, Sylvaner, Gewurztraminer
Red*
NEW 2018 Rouge au Litre - Pinot Noir
Sparkling
2015 Extra Brut - Non Dose - Auxerrois, Chardonnay
* Due to high demand we are already nearly out of stock! But don't worry, we will be getting another shipment soon. Register your interest here