Wildenstein, Spätburgunder, Reserve, 2011

Bernhard doesn't like the official Grosses Gewachs (GG) name Willistein so this remains 'Wildenstein' without GG on the label. But of course it very much is GG in the glass. it comes from a parcel of very stony, red ferrous soils in the Bienenberg vineyard and is said to be the first spot the cistercian monks planted Pinot Noir in Baden. Typically deep and elemental, yet not introvert, it shows layer upon layer of ripe wild fruit interspersed with complex minerals and notes of stones and smoke. And yet, for all the power and glimpses of wild stony hedonism, this actually has tremendous restraint, control and purity of fruit. A quite brilliant Pinot in anyone's book.