Meyer-Näkel, Walporzheimer Kräuterberg Spätburgunder

ThE sToRy of the rise and rise of Meyer-Näkel is a classic. The scion of a winegrowing family sees no future in a world of low prices and low quality, which was the Ahr in the 1970s. so he leaves, only to be brought back to the winery when his father becomes ill. And he never leaves again. Instead he modernises, improves quality, buys vineyards, improves quality some more…

The Ahr used to make pale, wishy-washy Pinot of no great appeal. Werner went to Burgundy and bought barrels; he reduced yields and set about making Pinot that tasted like Pinot.

German spätburgunder now has a brand-new reputation for quality and interest, and Meyer-Näkel is one of its leaders. And Werner’s daughters, Meike and Dörte, are not going anywhere.

Climate change favours the Ahr. These are wines of elegance and finesse, ripe and racy: Werner wants aroma and concentration, but not obvious power, and certainly not obvious oak. The wines are aged in barrels, but the oak is perfectly integrated; it doesn’t show except in the form of a little extra structure.

My favourite is the Kräuterberg vineyard in the village of Walporzheim, a Grosses Gewächs site where terraces are patched onto a steep, rocky hillside and soak up the sun. The wines are intensely aromatic, tight, spicy and mineral, full of black fruits, incense, thyme and wild herbs, very balanced, very pure. The Romans cultivated this hillside; everything is simply reinvention.

‘Climate change favours the Ahr. These are wines of elegance and finesse, ripe and racy’