Mineralstein Pinot Blanc 2024

Gerd Stepp

The grapes for Mineralstein Pinot Blanc come from the highest altitude and most northerly vineyard sites of the Pfalz region with an extremely high limestone content. Limestone reduces the vineyard’s vigour and gives it more balance in growth and a lower yield. These soils also tend to give the wine more structure and a delicate, creamy texture.

A green harvest was carried out in June to remove excess fruit and late flowering bunches. To increase sun exposure and minimise the risk of botrytis, leaves were plucked once during the season. Every second vine row has green cover for biodiversity, and integrated viticultural methods are applied throughout the growing season.

The grapes were de-stemmed and gently pressed with modern membrane presses at the winery. After cold settling and racking the juice to the fermentation tank a selected Burgundian yeast strain was added. Fermentation temperature ranged between 12ºC to 18ºC. After fermentation at 12ºC to 18ºC over six weeks, the wine was kept ‘sur lie’ for a further 4 months but without lees stirring.

This lovely Pinot Blanc is unoaked and hasn’t undergone malolactic fermentation – hence its crisp and refreshing acidity. It does, however, have a delightfully rounded texture in the mouth. It’s a pretty complex wine with lots of fresh lemon and autumn apple notes with a hint of toasted brioche from its time spent ‘sur lie’.