Unbottled – Bertram-Baltes Forstberg
To get more structure into my wine posts, I am starting a new series where I write about German wine regions in alphabetical order. For each region, I am presenting a wine with an additional food-pairing. There is no pattern to which I chose the wines, but I will try to have something exemplary or something special.
We will start with the Ahr region which is known for its Pinot Noirs. In this case, I went for the 2021 Ahrweiler Forstberg from Bertram – Baltes. The vineyard was founded in 1910 in Dernau. The flood disaster in the Ahr valley in 2021 destroyed the wine press hall and the barrel warehouse of the vineyard, along with the entire 2020 vintage. Among others, the wine merchant Vinocentral raised money for new barrels.
Low intervention
Apart from that heavy loss, Betram – Baltes grows 98 % Pinot Noir and 2 % Pinot Noir Précoce on their 7,5 ha of vineyards. When it comes to winemaking in general, they use organic cultivation in permaculture and sheep for green pruning as well as fertilization in the vineyards. In the cellars natural yeasts ferment the must and ageing takes place in local oak barrels.
Non filtered
The grapes for the 2021 Ahrweiler Forstberg were hand-picked and 70 % destemmed. After a cold-maceration, the grapes were pressed and fermented. The young wine then matured in 600 l barrels for 14 months. The bottling took place without neither filtration, nor fining and a minimal addition of sulphur.
Let it breath
Right after opening the Bertram – Baltes shows a lot of mineral notes. I got burned matchsticks and a touch of sulphur. After quite a while in the decanter, beautiful spice notes and typical red fruits come to the front. Red fruits, sour cherries and a touch of berries dominate the taste. The wine has a robust acidity which brought along associations of red apples and red fruit tea. Towards the end of the taste, I also found a whiff of tobacco.
All in all
This definitely is not a Pinot Noir for beginners, or impatient people. You really need to take your time for the wine and let it breath. If you do, you are rewarded with a great combination of terroir and primary fruit. For a food pairing, I went with one of my classic recipes: Pork lion on cinnamon sticks with potato ‘foam’. The wine really worked well with the exotic flavours of the dish, and also with the lemon zest in the potato foam.
