Current Vintages: 2016
Our »Selection Johner« wines are the ultimate expression of passionated winemaking from single vineyard sections.
1990 we presented our Pinot Noir »SJ« for the first time. Till the 90s all our wines were declassified to table wines. The only chance to distinguish our top level wines from our other wines was the appellation »SJ« for »Selection Johner«.
The fruits of our Pinot Noir »SJ« are from our top-situaded vineyards called Oberrotweiler Eichberg and Bischoffinger Steinbuck. Proud old vines are doing a great job there growing on volcanic soil. Only in very good years we use the fruits for a »SJ«. Alternatively the fruits are blended to our standard Pinot Noir.
Not only top vineyards and soil guarantees to gain fruits for a great wine, you need an intense and controlled vineyard management. The main quality aspects in the vineyards are deleafing the fruit zone, reducing and dividing the grapes (green harvest), the harvest by hand and sorting the fruits strictly. The taste of the fruits, more precisly the balance of aromas, sweetness, acidity, tannis and colour are the main aspects about the harvest time.
Pinot Noir is thin-skinned so it must be handled carefully. Fruit is gently destemmed, and very slowly fermented in open and closed top fermenters. The cap of the skins is pushed down several times a day to extract colour and round tannin texture from the skins and seeds. The whole fermentation process with resting on the skins takes four weeks. Afterwards the wine ages in new oak barrels about ten till twelve months. We filter the wine before bottling to avoid a depot in the bottle.