24.10.2021

Odinstal - 350 N.N. Weissburgunder 2018

We drink a bottle of Weissburgunder 350 N.N from the Odinstal winery from one of the highest vineyards in the Palatinate.

For part 3 of our little Weissburgunder journey, we stay in the Palatinate, change the winery and are no longer with the VDP. Ok, that is not quite true. The Odinstal winery was recently admitted to the VDP, but the wine today is still from the time before. We drink a bottle of Weissburgunder 350 N.N. from 2018. The name suggests it already, the vineyards for this wine are located at about 350 meters above Wachenheim. That’s pretty high for the Palatinate. The altitude makes for a different climate, it’s cooler there and the grapes ripen more slowly. So the location alone provides a special terroir for this wine. In addition, as is customary at Odinstal, the cellar was worked with as little intervention as possible. A large part of the vines grow on Keuper and were planted in the 1980s. More freshness in the wine is provided by a smaller proportion of fruit from sandstone and basalt, which are harvested a little earlier.

What is immediately noticeable, especially in comparison to the other wines the weeks before, is the darker color of the wine. The nose has a lot of depth, also seems rather dark, has apple skin, some apple cider, ripe cider pears and peach. The fruit overall seems rather restrained though. I would not describe the wine as fruity. In the mouth, the structure dominates. The wine lingers for a long time and there is a mixture of saltiness and fruit sweetness on the tongue before the tannin comes out the back. Complex and yet quite unusual. I needed a short time, but then you drink yourself in and the glass does not stay full for long. Air brings a great fresh citrus note to the tongue.

This mix of slight sense of sweetness and the saltiness remains intriguing on the second evening. The wine seems more viscous today, the nose continues to show the cider pear. There are also salmiak and herbs. Again, the wine needs a short time. The first few sips the tannin was somehow off and not properly integrated, but air helps there too and it becomes more and more harmonious and it becomes more easy to drink by the minute. This Weissburgunder is on the one hand quite demanding and natural and on the other hand somehow also totally charming and easy-drinking. I like this mixture.

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