Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Sven Leiner's 2022 Handwerk Spätburgunder opens with a clear, fresh and spicy, finely reductive ripe cherry and dark berry aroma intertwined with earthy notes. Fresh, round and savory on the palate, this is a light to medium-bodied, silky, pure yet intense and persistently structured Pinot Noir that is still young but made to be enjoyed with pleasure and food. There are fine tannins and cacao notes on the still-dry finish. This is an excellent, straight and lighter-styled Pinot with character and length.
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.”
This sunny and relatively dry region served for many years as a German tourist mecca and was associated with low cost, cheerful wines. But since the 1980s, it has gained a reputation as one of Germany’s more innovative regions, which has led to increased international demand.