A lot of people don’t know that Germany makes excellent, and unbeatable quality-price ratio, pinot noir - or spätburgunder in German. That’s especially true in Baden, a thin strip of a wine region nestled between the hills of the Black Forest and the Rhine River. The volcanic hills and warmer climate (for Germany) give rise to excellent pinots of all three colors: noir, gris, and blanc. Weingut Bercher is a 10th-generation family estate whose crest dates back to 1457. They are in the Kaiserstuhl, in southern Baden and a stone’s throw from Germany’s border with Alsace. Bercher’s Spätburgunder Burkheimer is aged for a year in the traditional old oak casks of the Kaiserstuhl region. The fruit suggests sour cherries, with some mineral and flinty notes, a little bit of smokiness, and nicely-evolved tertiary (bottle-age) flavors. How about mushrooms, schnitzel, fowl, or all by itself in a big, broad stem?
