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5480-largeI like this wine very much, but I hesitate to write about it. I not only know the wine, I also know the winemaker, I am friends with him and - as a rule - I am also present at the harvest as a harvest helper year after year. So you can't expect me to be objective. And you don't need to, because it is - actually undisputed - a very good wine, the best from Gian Battista, the edgy winemaker from Reichenau. "The first Chur Pinot Noir "Gian-Battista" dates back to 1984, he (Gian Battista von Tscharner) saw it as a calling card of his business: each bottle was labelled by hand. Over the years, production grew and so the lord of the castle of Reichenau decided, from 2002 onwards, to label the bottles using screen printing. This did not affect the quality of the wine. Around 2000 bottles are sold every year and are always sold out quickly" (quote: Mémoire des Vins Suisses) I have witnessed a good part of this development: the use of barriques, cautiously at first, then more and more massive, too massive, in my opinion. The 2006 and 2008 vintages were probably the best of the past decade (I can't say much about the younger wines yet, they still need cellar rest). Now I have his excellent 2008 in the glass for the first time in "full maturity" - my good memory of the young wine is confirmed.DSCN0845 (verkleinert) Balanced, juicy and full of Pinot finesse, the (somewhat too) much "wood" has settled in, the berries develop in the full palate and the fine spice gives the wine something dancing, light, happy, but also definite and above all a long finish. For me, this is one of the best "Gian Battista"; its strength lies in its maturity and detachment, which has lost none of the wine's (and winemaker's) individuality and personality. As I said, I am (not entirely) objective here, but still so critical that I almost always approach "his great wine" with scepticism. I actually love his Felsberger, his Jeninser, his "ordinary" Chur Pinot Noir much more, simply because I think I find more terroir (than cellar work) in them. Perhaps it is also because this wine wants to compete with the "greats" from the Bündner Herrschaft - because it quite consciously also wants to be a "great" - but does not always (and completely) manage it, while the "ordinary", cleanly made Pinots - which really "only" want to be good Pinots - almost consistently offer a refined, wine pleasure, a good piece of Swiss Pinot Noir culture.

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