2021 Brand Red
2021 Brand Red
A bright and bouncy expression of the brother’s red varieties that weren’t attacked by Kirschessigfliege as their Portugieser was.
Cuvée: Brand Red
Style: Still
Colour: Red
Grapes/Blend: Pinot Noir, Dornfelder, Cab Franc, Riesling
ABV: 10.5%
Vintage: 2021
Winemaking: This year the Brand Red is a little different and carries the battle-scars of 2021 with grace. With such heavy losses to the Portugieser thanks to the Kirschessigfliege/Drosophila Suzukii fly, what little they picked was saved for Wildrosé. Brand Red was instead assembled from a few different varieties this year: 40% Pinot Noir, 30% Dornfelder, 25% Cab Franc and 5% Riesling. All with a carbonic maceration of 10-14 days, mostly pressed to wooden barrels to finish fermentation, with the Pinot Noir pressed to stainless steel. Assembled and bottled with no additions the following spring.
Sulphur: None added
Soil: Loess, loam and shell limestone
Yield: 60 hl/ha
Fifth-generation winemaker Daniel Brand first brought organic production to his Bockenheim family farm in 2007 and joined by brother Jonas, started producing wines without sulphur in 2014 (Pur). Riesling and Pinot Blanc dominate their collection, and they make wines with youthful attitude but also care and precision. Their 16 hectares are mostly on the windy Bockenheimer hillside, planted on loam with a lot of shell limestone. It is one of the coolest climate sites in the Pfalz.