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.
[...] in September, I tried a German Pinot Noir (the Meyer-Näkel Spätburgunder Ahr 2006). It was bloody [...]
[...] While the 2000 was, according to my notes “very decent and beats the pants of most Bourgogne Rouge in the same price range”, the 2001 was just tart, dilute, lacking in depth and limp. A very similar experience to the Meyer-Näkel Spätburgunder Ahr 2006. [...]
Hi Lar, this popped up on a web search and I am quite amazed as the MN 2006 is a really good pinot noir – I’ve tasted this wine with Diploma and the Spätburgunder Dernauer Pfarrwingert at a tasting of German pinot last year before the IMW AGM and I’ve been very impressed. I reckon you might want to taste this again…
Dermot
Hi Dermot,
looking back at my description of it, “dilute, sour and very acidic on the palate”, it could have been oxidised so I’m willing to give it another shot.
Lar