August Kesseler Cuvée Max Pinot Noir

Not all German wines are white and not all contain sugar. August Kesseler breaks all the myths about Germanic wines and has made August Kesseler Cuvée Max Pinot Noir, a dry, smooth Pinot Noir that is easy to drink. The producer is August Kesseler, a winery in the Rheingau region run by a man with the same name since 1977, when he moved from making wine in bulk on the family estate to becoming a flagship German winemaker known all around the world. His vineyards, which stretch all across the Rheingau, include 33 hectares of Premier Crus (VDP Erste Lagen) and Grands Crus (Grosse Lagen) and most of its vines are of the Pinot Noir variety. This grape, although very diva-like due to its great sensitivity, when worked meticulously and with passion, produces fruitiness, elegance and balance. Three characteristics of a good wine that improve, as Kesseler himself says, when some new wood is added into the mix.

Named Cuvée Max after the winemaker Max Himsted, a living legend from the same winery, August Kesseler Cuvée Max Pinot Noir comes from steep slopes in Assmannshäuser Höllenberg. This is the leading production area of German red wine where the soils are mainly slate and quartzite and the vines were planted more than 80 years ago. After being traditionally cultivated, the grapes are meticulously selected and destemmed before fermenting in open vats in prolonged contact with carefully measured yeasts. The wine is then aged for 24 months in French oak foudres.

Although made from one of the most demanding varieties in terms of cultivation and vinification, August Kesseler Cuvée Max Pinot Noir is a symphony of elegance and freshness. An example of the great red wines produced by the Rhine River.