Schlipf Schneider 'Weil am Rhein' Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) 2020

Schlipf Schneider 'Weiler' Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) is a first-class Pinot Noir with opulent, ripe dark red fruit. It has a magnificently scented nose with savoury undertones and a structure that oozes elegance and finesse. There is power and richness to the wine, but it is still incredibly weightless and bewildering. The grapes are sourced from 30-year-old vineyards around the villages of Haltingen, Otlingen and Altweil and then aged for 18 months is large wooden barrels.

Weingut Schlipf Schneider is made up of 15-hectares of vineyards spread over 70 plots on the Tullinger Berg mountain, just northeast of Basel, in the very southwest of Germany. The winery has been family owned since 1892 and is now in the capable hands of Johannes and Christoph Schneider, who took over from their parents, Claus and Susanne, in 2017. Johannes trained at Rossignol Trapet in Burgundy which has given him an invaluable insight into making superb Pinot Noir, or Spatburgunder as it is known here. In the past few years Johannes has moved to a more Burgundian model of bottling several different plots and vineyards separately, with the aim of expressing the different terroirs in the vineyards. The vineyards, which are now all farmed organically and with meticulous attention to detail, sit in a unique and wonderful location in the border triangle of France, Switzerland and Germany where they benefit from the warm Mediterranean air which flows up through the surrounding mountain ranges. It is a unique microclimate where Pinot Noir and the local Chasselas grapes thrive and produce amazing wines that are characteristic of their varieties but unique in their terroir. To be honest, we can’t keep up with all the wines they produce, which includes sparkling, Chasselas, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. We should always have a good selection from them available at any one time.