Monday, January 9, 2023

German Pet-Net And Rosé Bring Thrills In The New Year


The year 2023 is off to a great start. We celebrated the advent of the new year with two great German wines. 

We really love pétillant naturel wines. Roughly translated as “naturally sparkling,” these wines are bottled during initial fermentation whereas most wines are bottled after fermentation. Instead pet-nat wines use the carbon dioxide that is a byproduct of fermentation to create blessedly delightful bubbles.

Brothers Daniel and Jonas Brand create certified organic and vegan wines using wild yeast in the Pfalz region of Germany. We started our celebrating with their funky Weingut Brand 2019 Pet-Nat. Made organically with a Silvaner and Pinot Blanc, this was an explosion of mineral and zesty citrus flavor. In the glass it was foamy and hazy. It is one of the best sparkling wines we've had. Hats off, Brand brothers.

We followed this with the 2020 Pinot Noir Rosé from Meyer Näkel. The wine comes from the Ahr region. The Romans began cultivating grapes in this area more than 1,000 years ago. The region has been focused on Pinot Noir since the 1700s.

Meyer-Näkel is a fifth-generation family. When Willibald Näkel established the vineyard with his wife Paula Meyer, they focused on dry red wine, something quite unusual for the time. Today the estate is run by his son Werner, his wife, and daughters. The winery produces about 10,000 cases per year, mostly Spätburgunder, which is what Pinot Noir is called in Germany.

The Pinot we tasted is a beautiful coral pink rosé. It's dry and smooth with an explosion of berries. If you haven’t yet tried German Pinot Noir, you are missing out. We suggest you start with this bottle, which costs $28 and is available at Wine.com.

These wines were received as a marketing sample.

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