Dupont de LigonnèsRotling Kesse Comtesse 2019 (750ml)

All three wines are sourced from the same tiny, .08-hectare vineyard, just outside of Dresden; these are the royal vineyards of Wachwitz. Most of the vines here are around 40 years old and planted on weathered granite, which is pretty common in the area, if a bit unique for Germany at large.

I love, LOVE this wine – it reminds me of a more mineral-driven, more energetic Cerasuolo from Edoardo Valentini. This is a curated field blend, as it were, using Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. Roughly 20% of the grapes were fermented on the skins for a shorter amount of time. In all cases, the red and white varieties were fermented together – in Germany this is called a “Rotling,” a historic yet seldom-used method these days. The wine has beautiful dark-berry fruit, woven with fresh spice and dried herbs; it shows a haunting reduction, a fresh sawdust quality I just love. As with all the wines, the wine has good mid-palate heft, it is glycerin-rich and concentrated, yet the acidity is pushing and the wine is defined and energetic.

To pay homage to the aristocratic history of the site, all the wines have been given invented names, the Wes Anderson thing of creating deeply strange characters. “Kesse” in German might be translated to “cheeky,” thus we have here the cheeky Countess. As per the winemaking, Alexandre is farming organic and all the ferments are natural. The wines are unfiltered and sulfured slightly only at bottling.