2021 Weingut Rings, Spätburgunder, Estate, Pfalz, Germany.
The smoky, slightly reductive and brilliant ruby gemstone hued Rings estate Pinot Noir is really hitting its stride with gorgeous silken layers of black cherry, red currant, plum and berry fruit, along with stony and spicy accents, as well as subtle wood framing, delicate floral notes, loamy earth, bergamot tea and candied orange. This medium bodied and elegant Pinot Noir could easily fool me into thinking it was a Nuits-St.-Georges or the like, such is the charm here in this Rings effort, and just the touch of evolution and textural finesse make for a confident and rewarding wine. As noted here, German Spätburgunder or Pinot Noir is reaching new heights and with the price of top Burgundy, it is for sure a place to find some excellent wines, such as those by Friedrich Becker, also here in the Pfalz, Caroline Diel at Schlossgut Diel in the Nahe, Gunter Küntzler at Weingut Küntzler in the Rheingau, Meyer-Näkel in the Ahr, one of my all time favorites, and August Kesseler, who’s awesome Assmanshausen Höllenberg GG is legendary! Rings has joined the party and at this price, I highly recommend grabbing a few extra bottles to put away for another 5 to 10 years, as I think it has some aging potential as well with the depth and structure it is showing. Coming from sustainable vines, with all estate-grown grapes from Rings vineyards in Kallstadt and Freinsheim, the Pfalz Spätburgunder saw a short maceration the crushed grapes went through fermentation with all wild yeasts. The winery says that the small-sized berries, 100% de-stemmed, from French clones, add structure and density, as displayed in the glass. The 2021 Rings Spätburgunder was aged in reused French barriques for 12 months and as the winery adds there was No fining and no filtration to allow for every nuance to show through here.
Weingut Rings of the Pfalz region is really turning heads these days with an incredible set of wines from classic dry Rieslings to a Bordeaux blend, and though actually founded in 2001, things didn’t really came together fully until around 2008, when Steffen and his brother Andreas got together here. Based at their Freinsheim winery, and these mostly self taught winegrowers have now become rock stars within their region and in Germany. As well as building a cult like following here in the States, with wines like this one, which like their neighbor Becker down the road in the Pfalz, that has a real Burgundy like character and depth. Those that are fans of the Pfalz region will want to get to know this winery and soon! As mentioned, I was really thrilled again to try the latest releases from winemakers Steffen and Andreas Rings, who have Weingut Rings in the Pfalz, because they are now one of the superstars of Germany and are doing some innovative wines that are on the cutting edge, like their fantastic “Kalk & Stein” a unique Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc blend, a unique Bordeaux style red blend, a set of Burgundy like Pinot Noirs and their top notch Rieslings, like their thrilling Kallstadter Saumagen GG, that I reviewed last year. The winery, as I noted before, employs certified organic methods in the vineyards, using things like buckwheat, radish and clover as cover crops to help aerate the soil and attract useful animals, along with using horse dung to fertilize the soil naturally. They also do rigorous sorting during take off leaves selectively and work with low yields. Importer German Wine Collection in California is getting a small allocation of Rings, so while not easy to get, I suggest searching for their wines. Again I must thank my friend Christian Adams of The German Wine Collection for inviting me to taste through a selection of his German offerings and especially bringing out these highly sought after Rings wines!
($45 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive