This is the first of the two Pinot Noirs I picked up from Cellars, The Big Wine Warehouse on the Naas Road.

Background

According to thewinebarn.co.uk

Werner Näkel has established an excellent reputation for his extraordinary reds. He prolonged the pre-fermentation maceration to improve the tannic structure in the wine and was one of the first vintners to introduce French barriques. His unbiased ways of working smoothed his way to success. Only after five years he was awarded the coveted red wine prize of the German wine magazine Vinum

How was it?

In fairness, when I picked up this from Cellars, it didn’t come recommended. While I’d admired the honesty, I chose to ignore it as I hadn’t had a German Pinot Noir before.

Unfortunately, my quest for novelty trumped good advice as this wine was pretty appalling.

Very little on the nose, dilute, sour and very acidic on the palate. No one at the table enjoyed it. A waste of €18. This is the worst Pinot Noir I’ve ever had.

I suppose what it does highlight is that you should probably heed good advice, particularly when you ask for it.

This wine is probably the “entry-level” from Meyer-Näkel, I’ve seen an “S” label (for “Selection”) and a “G” label (for “Grand Cru”) online which seem to go for more than €18, but on the back of this one, I’d hesitate to even try them.

Entry level wines need to be a little better if producers are to get drinkers to trade up to the select or reserve labels. Otherwise, wines like this could tarnish what seems to be a reputable winemaker’s brand.