2015 Pinot Noir Fronholz

The 2015 Fronholz Pinot Noir is from vines planted on marl and clay over limestone soils in 1969. It opens with a very clear and delicate nose of perfectly ripe raspberries, cherries and floral aromas. Mouth-filling, wide and aromatic on the palate, this silky textured, highly finessed and elegant Pinot reveals a great freshness and fine tannin structure that is perfectly integrated and gives a great grip. The finish is very long and fresh, even salty, and shows gorgeous fruit. Together with Boxler's, this 2015 is one of the finest Pinots I have tasted from Alsace. It was fermented with 20% whole clusters (with 15 days of maceration in stainless steel) and aged in barriques for 11 months. The 2015 was bottled unfined and unfiltered in September after the harvest. Due to gentle processing (with no filtration) the wine still has a bit of carbonic acidity, which helps to protect the wine from oxidation since it has been bottled with a very low dosage of SO2 (just ten or less milligrams per liter).