Peter Wagner Oberrotweil Spätburgunder

Traditionally, German wines had very high acidity. The cold and the few hours of sunshine typical of the north caused the grapes to take a long time to ripen, producing wines with not much sugar. The beginning of this text is deliberately written in the past tense, because, in fact, that has no longer been the case for a while now. Why? Because of climate change and the rise in the average temperatures, which means that in these areas, where the grapes used to be harvested in October, and even November, they are now reaching baumé levels not previously seen here.

The regions that are benefitting most from this are those in southern Germany, like Oberrotweil in the southwest, very close to the Rhine and the French border. There, in the Baden wine region, the third largest in Germany, we find Peter Wagner, a winemaker who produces very fine, elegant and fresh wines, with minerality, who meticulously monitors the grapes, trying to make sure the grapes contain those traditional levels of acidity. The result of this work is wines that make a mark, like Peter Wagner Oberrotweil Spätburgunder, a red made from Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir).

Peter Wagner set up on his own in 2016. This line of work runs in the family. His father was a grape supplier in a cooperative who dreamed of making his own wine. Now his son is living that dream in Kaiserstuhl, a volcanic mountain range in the Rhine Valley, where he cultivated four hectares of mixed Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Müller-Thurgau and Chardonnay vines. These vines are cultivated biodynamically, using horse manure and promoting biodiversity in the vineyard. In this area the soil is volcanic, which gives the wines an unmistakable minerality. In the winery, Peter Wagner’s wines are known for their long aging on lees, in stainless steel tanks or in small wooden barrels for 12 months. Finally, the wines are not clarified and are only filtered when necessary.

Peter Wagner’s wines are different. Those who have tried them say that they are not easily forgotten. Peter Wagner Oberrotweil Spätburgunder is one of these wines. A wine that once you’ve tried, you won’t be able to stop thinking about.