Kaiserstuhl - Spätburgunder Rot Trocken 2018 - Achkarren WG

Spätburgunder Rot Trocken

• 2018 - Baden - Kaiserstuhl

• Achkarren Winzergenossenschaft

• Rating: 1.5/5

When we bought this Wine we were hoping to get a good German Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), not only because Kaiserstuhl is one of the best German Anbaugebiete (Protected Designations of Origin), but because Achkarren has a piece of our heart. But, sadly, this Spätburgunder was a total failure, and the first Wine we have reviewed we won't recommend.

Nose before swirling

At this moment of the tasting, everything was good, great red fruit tastes, reminiscent of raspberries and strawberries with faint vanilla hints.

Nose after swirling

Here is when things go from good to bad. As soon as you swirl the glass, those red fruits are replaced with an intense burnt plastic aroma and the Wine starts feeling extremely hot on the nose in an unpleasant way.

Taste in the mouth

In the mouth, some red fruit jam taste can be felt, but it's almost immediately replaced by a bitter flavour with burnt notes (something undesirable in a Wine). The jam taste originates from a technic called “Maischeerhitzung” (Mash heating), and those burnt notes may derive from problems in this process, or with a Wine pump. The ending is long but extremely bitter, something uncommon for a Spätburgunder/Pinot Noir.

After smell in the glass

On the empty glass, the aroma is extremely hot, with jam notes and strong sulfide taints.

Conclusions:

This Wine got the first negative review we have given since we started this project. And it pains us so much that it's from a Winzergenossenschaft (Wine cellar) that we appreciate so much.

I would not buy this Wine. And as a review, I would rank this as a 1.5/5 because the aromas before swirling the glass are extremely characteristic and intense, but after swirling the glass everything that can go wrong goes wrong.

(1 = poor; 2 = acceptable; 3 = good; 4 = very good; 5 = outstanding)