Wine Club 44 Winners!

Last week's 44th round of  Highbury Library Wine Club was an all German and Alsace affair and once again, each night produced different winning bottles when it came to the vote.

We kicked off with two contrasting litre bottles of Pinot Noir / Pinot Gris blends from Jean Pierre Rietsch and Yann Durrmann. Ron Rond Le Litron Rouge 2025 is Yann's electric, glou-glou expression which is packed with juicy red berries, stone fruit and rose petal aromatics. Tout Rouge 2025 is Jean Pierre's slightly deeper and more precise alternative that is all about purity and elegant red fruit depth. On the first night, both of these cuvées shared the crown for best tasting bottle at the end of the night.

It was exciting to pour two magnums of Riesling which again displayed contrasting styles and winemaking skills. The first was The Brand Brothers' multi-vintage Riesling Pur Magnum Only which is made up of the duo's most interesting Riesling barrel each year. Full of lemon, limes, white flowers and minerals, you are even treated to that classic Riesling petrol note, possibly reflecting the fact that there is some 2017 wine included in the blend. Hard to describe what a bargain this is at just £52!

2Naturkinder's second instalment under the Brutal label was up next. Riesling ‘Brutal!!!’ 2024  is a serious wine with beautiful intensity of citrus and minerals followed by a very long finish. Some of the more experienced drinkers absolutely loved it whilst for others it wasn't wild enough! With more time in bottle this is going to turn into something very special indeed.

As if often the case with this grape variety, Jean Pierre Rietsch's Muscat Murmure 2025 proved to be crowd splitter. Some absolutely loved the stone fruit, tea leaf and floral aromatics whilst others still found these characteristics too intense. 

We ended the evening with a brand new Pet Nat from the Brand Brothers imaginatively named Rosé Pet-Nat 2024. This is lively, sparkling Pinot Noir grown on limestone soils in the Pfalz. Driven by fine bubbles, tart wild strawberries, and a smokey, toasty note, it proved be the perfect way to end the evening, particularly on night two when it won the vote for best tasting bottle.

So as usual, lots of different opinions which is exactly what we love about wine. On to the next!

Hopefully see you there