2016 Gantenbein Pinot Noir

Gantenbein

Switzerland / Graubünden / Gantenbein

Gantenbein Pinot Noir is carefully harvested by hand and fermented in custom-built, open-top wood fermenters, typically with 20% whole clusters. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barriques. The wines are bottled after 12 to 14 months in barrique, without filtration or fining. Even in a good vintage, the yields are quite low — only about 1.5 tonnes per acre.

February, 2019

Stephan Reinhardt

Wine Advocate

94 points

The 2016 Pinot Noir is pure, fresh and aromatic on the well-concentrated nose, a great mix of fine red berries and crushed slate. Pure and intense on the palate, this is a concentrated, tight and linear Pinot with great tension on the finish. Very salty and fresh, taut and promising. Tasted November 2018.

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About Gantenbein

Founded in 1982, Gantenbein is widely considered to be one of the best wine estates in Switzerland. It is located in the Graubünden (Grisons) district of the upper Rhine valley in eastern Switzerland, one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on Earth. Not far from here, high up in the Alps, the Rhine begins its long journey to the Atlantic. At the foot of the Alps, in the small village of Fläsch, is the gravity-flow winery of Daniel and Martha Gantenbein; a marvel of design simplicity, ingenuity and mechanical precision.

About

Daniel and Martha do all of the vineyard and cellar work themselves, by hand. Together, they farm six hectares (15 acres) of vineyards, about 500 meters above sea level on the scree slopes of the northern Alps. Most of the vineyards (about 12.5 acres) are planted densely with Pinot Noir clones from Burgundy. The rest is planted with Chardonnay, as well as a tiny parcel of Riesling, planted with vines sourced from the Mosel.