Wine and Food

Bergmandel, Lemberger GG, 2012, Aldinger, Red-wine from Germany

7 points

I have been criticized by someone who is from Stuttgart that it isn’t as bad as I described in the opener of my review of Aldinger’s Spätburgunder Rosé some while ago (https://avdwineandfood.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/spatburgunder-rose-grosse-reserve-2013-weingut-aldinger/). I only can repeat it is good to know the family Aldinger as they are great winemakers and it doesn’t matter really if they speak a bit strange German dialect. This all is a part of my perhaps strange humor and certainly is not related to any serious consideration about people coming from this area. Although I must say ….. again, this is joke.

I will not stop my sense of humor although I may risk misunderstandings! Since the family of Aldinger isn’t from Stuttgart but from its closest suburb called Fellbach they obviously speak their dialect and – to be honest – I am able to understand them. But there is something else I even understand perhaps a bit better: this is their passion to make really great wines! The Aldingers are as much related to their home as many other people as well. They are down to earth, they belong to this nice piece of land. This accounts.

It is always very delicate to speak about “the best”. In particular if you talk about wine as the taste of it can be so different depending from where the wine is as well as how particular the vintage has been but also who makes the wine. I tend to say that the Aldingers are the best red-wine makers in Germany which I immediately would like to recall considering my recent words about Philip Nelles or any other interesting winemaker.

Allow me to begin this article once again: if there are German grapes I really don’t like at all then these are Lemberger and in particular Trullinger which is a very typical sort of this area. This said, the amazing capacity of making remarkable if not outstanding wine is proofed by the fact that I really like a Lemberger! Let me disclose! Lemberger is a synonym of Blaufränkisch.  I must admit it took me a while I was aware about this since the taste of a common or casual Blaufränkisch can be pretty obnoxious if it comes from a cheap production. On the other side really remarkable wines in particular from Austria are either straight Blaufränkisch or at least driven by this sort.

Großes Gewächs means Grand Cru. For this wine it deserves this comparison as it is high end. Color-wise it is a shining red, it coruscates! It is still transparent although the color tends to grew, stony red.

If you smell the wine it offers you multiple and opulent flavors. The bouquet cares aromas of bramble and black raspberries. This isn’t all fruits! Typically many sommeliers are writing about cassis on what I wouldn’t agree. As I said many times, I am not a professional but the taste of this wine reminds me to smells of tir in fog, black jerry juice (without any sweetness) and other fruity imaginations of a forest – something like juniper – but also alpine pastures.

Perhaps it sounds strange or even impossible; the wine reminds me to the flavor or some very healthy drink as the flavors of this wine hasn’t any comparison to any “southern” wine but the smell of intensive even health delivering (I dislike to write medical) flavors as mint and herbal extracts.

This wine is a real dry although there is a smart, light sweetness at the end.

Some fundamentalists would perhaps complain about the oaky – or wooden note  – the wine has. And I would assume that if the wine would not have been matured in an oak barrel it would taste different, more sour of course, but certainly never so amazingly soft and tender.

By the way the picture here shows the stones of the vineyard of which this wonderful wine is from.

By now I am eager to say that this is the best Lemberger respectively Blaufränkish I know. The only concern: this one is much too young! This will be a challenge to keep my few bottles now for at least ten years as the wine should mature and improve year by year!

Just remarkable!

Please find further information at http://www.weingut-aldinger.de/de/