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Wine

For Great Rosé, Dial Germany and Austria

August 23, 2022

Story: Punch Staff

photo: Lizzie Munro

Wine

For Great Rosé, Dial Germany and Austria

August 23, 2022

Story: Punch Staff

photo: Lizzie Munro

The two countries have cemented themselves as the source of some of the world's best, and most affordable, rosé. From a recent tasting of 25, here are the bottles to stock right now.

When we last surveyed the landscape of Teutonic rosé, in 2016, pink wine was still holding strong as the seemingly invincible Drink of Summer. But by this point, the media had turned from trying to convince the masses that rosé was delicious to lamenting how the trend toward it had left us wading, awkwardly, through a sea of pastel plonk. That’s what made the growing number of bottles from Germany and Austria hitting shelves such a welcome surprise. As Punch contributor Jon Bonné asked back then: “What if there was a place where rosé was still being taken very seriously, made by some of the world’s most skilled winemakers and produced from grapes grown with the utmost care?” 

That place remains Germany and Austria. Of the 25 wines we tasted, it was impossible to just choose five; instead we chose five from each country. And even so, the panel—which consisted of Punch’s editorial staff, alongside Punch contributor and Pinch Chinese wine director Miguel de Leon—only a single bottle out of the 25 was roundly dismissed. 

There are myriad reasons, both practical and purely gustatory, that these wines are so irresistible. De Leon summed it up perfectly, describing them as satisfying each point on a star: high, well-defined acid; pretty, juicy fruit; salinity; a bonus spritzy, frothy character not dissimilar from that of txakoli; and, finally, an additional X-factor, something in the wine that boosts its mineral character and creates a “meet cute in the mouth.” These are, in short, wines with a very high refreshment factor, even those from Austria—like Jurtschitsch’s Belle Naturelle, Umathum’s Rosa and Arndorfer’s Rosa Marie—that opt for a deeper, darker, more concentrated take on the style. But there are two other very important factors that have led us to declare these two countries the world’s best practitioners of rosé: Both Germany and Austria are increasingly progressive when it comes to organic and biodynamic farming, and every wine on the list below is, at the very least, farmed organically. Also, not a single wine on this list crests above $25, making these as accessible as they are delicious. 

And, finally, the timely reason to check back in on Teutons. The 2021 vintage was especially kind to Germany and Austria, yielding some of the best, and most cellarable (yes, age these!) versions of these rosés. So, without further ado, here are the 10 bottles that topped our tasting.

Germany

Seehof Pinot Noir Rosé Trocken 2021

This salty, tart and ever-so-slightly spritzy rosé out of the Rheinhessen is the perfect affordable entry point to Mosel region rosé. Seehof’s vineyards are limestone-rich, rather than dominated by slate, giving the wines a delicate freshness and salinity that is the wine equivalent of getting hit in the face with sea spray. After the first sip, one taster summed up its likeability perfectly: “No notes.”

  • Price: $19
  • ABV: 12%

Koehler-Ruprecht Pinot Noir Rosé Kabinett Trocken 2021

Koehler-Ruprecht’s old-school, powerful, yet still clean and bright—or, as de Leon termed it, “clicky”—style applied to rosé makes this bottling a foil to some of the lacier takes on pinot noir here. Like the rest of the Koehler-Ruprecht range, this is weighty, thanks both to the warmth of the Pfalz region and the estate’s fermentation and aging in large neutral casks. Organically farmed in limestone-rich soil, this is a plush, classy rosé that is built to age.

  • Price: $24
  • ABV: 12.5%

Schlossgut Diel Rosé de Diel 2021

Caroline Diel makes some of the best wines in all of the Mosel, right down to this relatively limited rosé. Sourced from slate-dominant organic vineyards in the Nahe, the wine is aged in a mix of stainless steel and neutral oak, giving it both seriousness and that spritzy levity. It’s salty, spicy, full of tart red fruit and textural complexity—a wine that is equal parts “drinky AND thinky,” as de Leon put it.

  • Price: $24
  • ABV: 12%

Stein Rosé Trocken 2021

Ulli Stein is one of the most progressive winemakers in Germany, working impossibly steep slate slopes and experimenting with grape varieties aimed at “future-proofing” a region that is already feeling the impacts of climate change. His rosé—a blend of pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon and merlot—is a paradox of sorts: dense and concentrated, but still impossibly light. It’s all green, leafy cab vibes, black tea and tart, puckery red fruit that Punch’s Allison Hamlin likened to Sour Patch Kids. It, too, would be great with a few years in bottle.

  • Price: $25
  • ABV: 10.5%

Beurer Trocken Rosé 2021

Another departure from the full pinot noir template, Beurer’s savory rosé is a blend of trollinger, portugieser, zweigelt and spätburgunder from biodynamically farmed vineyards southwest of Mosel in Württemberg, part of an idiosyncratic slice of southern Germany referred to as Swabia. With a former BMX racer as winemaker, Beurer’s wines have a wild quality, and this is no exception: dark fruit, black pepper, plenty of acid—this is a wine in search of anything grilled. 

  • Price: $22
  • ABV: 11%

Austria

Schloss Gobelsburg Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg Cistercien Rosé 2021

One of the most reliable, joyously drinkable and expertly constructed rosés year after year, Cistercien is a blend of organically farmed, direct-pressed pinot noir, zweigelt and St. Laurent fermented and aged in stainless steel. It’s got all the froth and salinity, a touch of petrol and an aromatic trifecta of watermelon, basil and mint. It’s chuggable, certainly, but also “thinky” enough to set aside for a few years to meet, as Hamlin put it, “the face-filler version of itself.”

  • Price: $19
  • ABV: 12.5%

Weingut Bründlmayer Kamptal Zweigelt Langenloiser Rosé 2021

From one of the most well-known names in Austrian winemaking, this rosé is made from organically farmed zweigelt fermented and aged in stainless steel. This is on a savory track, with a tomato leaf and anise quality backed up by a bit of petrol—think of it as a weightier companion to the Gobelsburg.

  • Price: $21
  • From: 12%

Weingut Jurtschitsch Belle Naturelle Rosé 2021

Part of the “Discoveries from the Winery” line of small-production, experimental wines with no filtration or added sulfur, Jurtschitsch’s Belle Naturelle is a combination of zweigelt and pinot noir, both of which are pressed with the stems, alongside de-stemmed, skin-fermented cabernet sauvignon. It’s aged in neutral oak, on the lees, for six months and lands somewhere closer to a light red with notes of blood orange and sage and bitterness that channel some of the hallmark flavors of Italian aperitivi (Hamlin likened it to Cappelletti’s Aperitivo Americano). This was one of the standouts of the entire tasting.

  • Price: $22
  • ABV: 12.5%

Weingut Umathum Rosa 2021

Another Austrian rosé that showcases the darker, denser, more savory side of the country’s main red grapes. This blend—biodynamically farmed bläufrankisch, St. Laurent and zweigelt—is made via the saignée method (fermenting the “bleed off” from the making of red wine as a means of concentrating flavor in that red wine) and aged in stainless steel. Another one that leans more in the direction of chillable red, it’s green and chewy, with plenty of juicy fruit to level it out. It’s also in pursuit of something grilled and would easily benefit from a few years in bottle.

  • Price: $22
  • ABV: 13%

Martin & Anna Arndorfer Rosa Marie 2021

Another standout from the tasting, Arndorfer’s Rosa Marie also challenges the mainstream idea of rosé, leaning into the savory, with notes of coriander and iron minerality alongside tart, brambly fruit. Sourced from organically farmed zweigelt that is macerated on its skins for 14 days, pressed and then co-fermented with grüner veltliner grapes (with skins!) for another 14 days, this exists in a solar system all its own. Aged in both neutral oak and stainless steel for six months, it’s then bottled without filtration and with minimal added sulfur. The best way to describe it? As Hamlin put it, “It’s a little goth.”

  • Price: $28
  • ABV: 12.5%

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