Winemaker Notes
Hofgarten Pinot Noir (or "Spatburgunder") presents itself in a beautiful garnet red with a light water edge. In the bouquet are flavors of fresh mashed cherries and dark berries recognizable. The palate is youthful with a spicy touch and soft tannins. The wine has a light body with medium length and fine acidity on the finish. This Hofgarten Pinot Noir is a light drinking pleasure.
"Hofgarten" is the name that they give to their basic estate-grown wines, though this originates largely from the Eichberg, an important vineyard site with alluvial soils over a volcanic bedrock. Unexpectedly serious for its echelon, it exemplifies the ability of Baden to synthesise Pinot’s twin virtues of unexaggeratedly sweet fruit and soil-transparency.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
