Wine: Hanspeter Ziereisen experiments on the wild side

Hanspeter Ziereisen is a highly unusual German winemaker.

Hanspeter Ziereisen is a highly unusual German winemaker. He is constantly experimenting, often on the wild, natural side. A few years ago he began fermenting chasselas, a normally vapid wine primarily made in Switzerland, which he makes, Georgian style, in his back yard in an underground earthenware vessel known as a qvevri. He has made four barrels of flor yeast-covered wine “for fun”; last year he made a “vintage port” from otherwise unusable pinot noir. His gleaming new underground cellar is 120m long, so the back garden is strictly optional.

Ziereisen is also a highly successful maker of pinot noir (spätburgunder). Fruit thinning is a tedious and expensive business, but particularly important in cool climates. It’s normally achieved by cutting off surplus bunches, but the cure can be worse than the illness unless the timing is exactly right. Ziereisen blows jets of compressed air into the bunches during flowering, reducing the number of berries rather than bunches, opening the latter up to drying winds and/or sprays. It’s one of the reasons he makes great pinot.

Just how great became clear when Tim Atkin MW, a UK-based professional well known in Australia, organised a blind tasting of 400 German pinots from 2011. The 20 best were selected for an international tasting with Jancis Robinson MW and The Wine Advocate’s Stephan Reinhardt on the panel. Zieresen was the only German producer to have two wines representing Germany and two wines in the final international taste-off. Small wonder that several top Melbourne sommeliers who recently tasted the wines blind thought they were burgundies. Randall Pollard of Heart & Soil ([e-mail]) is the importer of all Ziereisen’s wines, most of which I tasted, including his extreme natural wines (up to $290 for an Alte Reben Chasselas), but it was the pinots that captured my heart.

2013 ZIEREISEN BLAUER SPÄTBURGUNDER

Hand-picked, open-fermented, 10 days cold soak, SO2 the only addition. Light, clear colour; made with 20% whole bunches, and spends two years in big barrels. The bouquet is clear and fragrant, red berry fruits to the fore, and fine tannins on the finish. 13% alc; screwcap.

93 points; drink to 2019; $33

2013 ZIEREISEN BLAUER SPÄTBURGUNDER TSCHUPPEN

Takes its name from an estate vineyard site, matured for 22 months in used oak. Like the entry point wine, it is screwcapped. The perfume of the bouquet is mesmerising, the red fruits on the palate with excellent texture and mouthfeel. Neither fined or filtered. 12.5% alc; screwcap

95 points; drink to 2023; $46

2013 ZIEREISEN BLAUER SPÄTBURGUNDER SCHULEN

Matured for 20 months in French barriques (20% new), and mainly destemmed, wild-fermented, like its siblings. The perfume is almost overpowering, matching the intricate mouthfeel that has the finest filigree of flavour and power. On a par with Burgundy Premier Cru or top Australian pinot. 12.5% alc; cork

96 points; drink to 2028; $70