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For a long time now, some wine media have given the impression that German Pinot Noirs have long been among the world's top red wines in general and Pinot Noirs in particular. However, this statement has never stood up to closer scrutiny. This could change with the 2022 vintage.

Although there have been individual wines in particularly favourable years over the past two decades that have earned the title of "great wine", they were neither the rule nor were there significant quantities of them. In addition, only a few were able to maintain their class even with longer maturation and continue to develop positively over many years, as should be the case with great wines.

The 2022 vintage could now finally represent a turning point. Not that there have not been almost ideal Pinot Noir years in the past, but the winegrowers were better prepared for 22. Or rather, more producers than ever were prepared for it.

Germany's most committed Pinot Noir winegrowers have been looking for their way for a long time. As individual as it may have been in each case, the goal was probably the same almost everywhere: To achieve Burgundian class without denying their own origins. The approach came from different angles, creating trends and counter-trends - each of which had its pitfalls: At times, there was too much focus on freshness, leanness and acidity, resulting in wines with too little substance, depth and complexity, and in serious cases, a certain immaturity. Elsewhere, the focus on ripeness has been overdone, resulting in Pinots with a tendency towards stewiness and high alcohol content that lack finesse and elegance. Of course, attempts were and still are made to fix things up, especially in the cellar: often with wood, often with too much or simply the wrong thing. Sometimes the extraction was exaggerated, sometimes wines were so reductive that even after days of tasting it was impossible to say for sure whether there was real substance behind them.

But only those who make mistakes learn - and our dedicated winemakers had plenty of time to learn from their mistakes. And then came 2022. As difficult as the year was for Riesling, Germany's other flagship variety, the vintage was great for Pinot Noir. Across the board, wines were produced that were elegant and concentrated, powerful but without heaviness, expressive, complex, deep and fine.

Many wines from the 2022 vintage from top-class German Burgundy producers are not yet on the market. But among those we have been able to taste so far, there are probably more great and grand Pinot Noirs than in any previous vintage we have experienced. And several of them are greater than anything we have ever encountered in German red wine.

We have tasted just under 600 German Pinot Noir red wines so far this year, around half of them from 2022, but we don't just want to focus our attention on the 22s. The significantly cooler previous year was also able to produce wonderful, polished, taut and fine wines if you worked with and not against the vintage. There are wines that will delight every Pinot Noir fan. The 2020 to 2018 vintages, many of which have also only now been released on the market, offered consistently good conditions for red wine anyway. And you can often taste the approach to the great ideal in them too. Which some wines now really seem to have achieved.

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