Julia Bertram

Ahr | Dernau

For more than a century, Julia Bertram’s family has grown and made wine in the tiny, marginal Ahr Valley. When Julia took over the estate in 2017, she directed her focus first toward the cherished old family sites, where she organically farms a total of 6.8 hectares of precipitous slopes all planted to Spätburgunder (pinot noir, in German). “What makes our wines unique,” Julia explains, “is the combination of slate and Spätburgunder in such a northerly region.” Across the board, Julia’s wines impress with their slender elegance, their arresting coolness and clarity, and above all a precisely mapped sense of place.

Julia Bertram 2016 Rosenthal Spätburgunder

The Rosenthal vineyard is around the hill from the Ahrweiler Forstberg, which Julia considers a premier cru. Whereas the Forstberg is more sandy loam soils in the slate, the Rosenthal is pure Devonian slate with quartz. Here, Julia has 35-year old pinot, planted to “stuber”—a local Ahr clone of pinot noir. Cold maceration, followed by ambient yeast fermentation which lasted about a week, then pressed and racked into 300L German oak from the forest near Klingenberg in Churfranken. This is a tour de force: a delicate pinot noir from the most northern clime in Germany, showing cut, spice, fruit, length and brightness. This is world-class pinot noir with few peers. It is a statement on the achievement of what this noble grape can show at these latitudes.

  • 2016
  • Pinot Noir
  • QbA
  • Germany
  • Ahr
  • Organic
  • Rosenthal
  • South
  • Devonian Slate with Quartz
  • 16 months barrique, 3 months stainless
  • Barrique
  • 750 ml

822 Salisbury Turnpike - Milan, New York - 12571 | 845-266-0376 | https://schatziwines.com | info@schatziwines.com