Winemaker Notes
Ziereisen is located in the very southern part of Baden in a town called Efringen-Kirchen, directly on the Rhine river at the border of Alsace and Switzerland. The area is called Markgräflerland; another name is the Dreiländereck – the "three country corner": Basel, Switzerland is the closest city, just 15 kilometers south.
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.”
