They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. In my case, it’s our current distance from Markgräflerland – the source of so many underestimated wines. Thankfully, I can still order wines straight from source. Orginally, I ordered three bottles of Dirk Brenneisen’s ‘Himmelreich’. The merchant (Markgräfler Weintheke) were down to their last two bottles, so I received a bottle of their ‘lesser’ Pinot Noir instead, including the resultant price difference. This was no disappointment at all, because – in the interests of full disclosure – I’ve blogged about the wine before.

Dirk Brenneisen, ‘Läufelberg’, Spätburgunder 2011, Baden
Aged for 20 months in used oak barrels, and unfiltered. Ruby in appearance, with a lovely immediate stemminess on a fragrant nose. Almost (rose-)watery, along with hints of strawberries. If you ‘heard’ the aromas as musical notes, they would be the top notes, so to speak: brilliant red light in a glass.

Note that none of my scribbled notes on this wine mentioned the words ‘oak’ or ‘wood’.

Unashamedly sexy and voluptuous on the palate. Medium-bodied at the very most, with oh so rounded tannins. It sounds like a cliché … but it was velvety. A wave of refreshing acidity then takes over, whipping the momentary decadence into shape. Beautiful balance. There is a meagre 0.6 g/l of residual sweetness, but this wine is still so generous. Es ist eine Wonne – a sheer delight. This is a wine that keeps on giving.

I drank the whole bottle over an evening while taking down these scant notes.