Wasenhaus Spatburgunder Kalk 2022

Vom Boden notes:

Alex Götze and Christoph Wolber, two Germans, were bitten by the same Burgundy-bug and ended up meeting each other in Beaune, both on their own wine-pilgrimage. Alex was born and raised in the area of Dresden and came to wine through architecture. Christoph was raised in Baden and a bottle of Bernard van Berg was so compelling that he ended up just jumping on his motorcycle and heading west.

Over a period of nearly a decade, both garnered pretty serious Burgundian credentials, working at Comte Armand, Bernard van Berg, Leflaive, de Montille, Pierre Morey and Domaine de la Vougeraie. Alex, in fact, was the vineyard manager for de Montille until 2021.

How could he have worked for de Montille and be involved in winemaking in Baden? The holy land of Pinot Noir is only about two-and-a-half hours due south west from Baden y’all, just FYI. 

The geography and village names of Baden are likely somewhat foreign, so to simplify things we can say that Kalk largely comes from one new parcel in the town of Ebringen, about ten minutes north of Wasenhaus. Yet the name, which translates to chalk, says what’s really important: the soil. I loved the wine; it has some of the character of Bellen (Bellen is also limestone soils and a bit of grapes from Bellen went in here), yet perhaps it’s more bouncy. Let’s see.

This Pinot noir is a blend from multiple plots but all on limestone soil, situated in the Markgraflerland. A major part of the vines is older than 40 years and the fruit was fermented as 40% whole cluster in an open top fermenter for 18 days. 16 months ageing in mainly used barrels.