Why this red wine is one of the best red wines in Germany

1. Why this red wine is one of the best red wines in Germany

2. Stefan Steinmetz is one of those winemakers who has been close to the Wine Party since the beginning, i.e. since 2015. That is no reason not to discuss some of Steinmetz's wines critically - such as his Pinot Meunier. His Alter Satz, on the other hand, embodies everything that constitutes living winemaking and wine culture. This wine, this old set by Stefan Steinmetz (Günther Steinmetz winery) from Brauneberg on the Mosel, is a masterpiece of a light, digestible and excellently pressed mixed set. Steinmetz has bottled a wine here that will be difficult to replicate, simply because of the ancient varieties Hartblau, Süßschwarz, SchwarzblauerAffenthaler, Schwarzurban or FränkischerBurgunder; unless a winemaker recognizes Steinmetz's desire to bottle something unique as so exemplary that he decides to get these varieties and cultivate them in his vineyards. To put it bluntly: the wine world could certainly use more wines like this.

3. With this excellent wine, Steinmetz is also a partner in spirit of Gottfried Lamprecht (Herrenhof Lamprecht - a name that seems like it's from the day before yesterday), who produces an incredibly good white mixed set that gives an oenological home to over 100 grape varieties. I have already written about this wine in WELT am SONNTAG and will share this article here shortly. What distinguishes Steinmetz Alten Satz from the sometimes equally revolutionary Pinot Noirs that Steinmetz produces in the designated white wine region of Mosel? Well, I can smell a higher, different kind of fruitiness, a little smoke and a little meadow herbs, which I rarely or never smell in Pinot. I smell old wine culture, I smell archaic winemaking that has been trimmed to modernity. And I smell the hint of salt from the slate that I only smell in Germany.

4. And in the mouth, it all has an almost unique balance between fruit and elegance, which - in my opinion - comes about because all these varieties, which probably wouldn't produce anything amazingly great in bottles and glasses when pressed individually (again, my opinion, which I know not everyone shares), work together to create a very unique world of red wine - a small but increasingly important world of red wine. Steinmetz Gemischter Satz is yesterday and tomorrow in the present. And that is much, much more than I thought possible. Steinmetz made people sit up and take notice with a statement he made in a recent conversation: He says that in certain years and with the help of technology in the vineyard, he can press this wine - currently, the 2021 that I drank, the Alte Satz has around 12.5 percent alcohol - down to 10 percent - while still maintaining a full body. This ten percent full-body wine would then also be an asset for all those, including me, who no longer want to drink the rich red wines of the Parker years. Precisely because they are not digestible. So it's time to trumpet that the Mosel, of all places, which is known for producing great Rieslings, is thinking a little further. In the direction of red wines that the world needs. This is one of them. At the same time, we finally start awarding points. I give it 93 out of 100.

5. Thank You