Spatburgunder Reserve
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2030
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roast duck breast with cherry reduction, pan-seared squab with wild mushrooms, or slow-braised pork belly over root vegetable purée.
✨ Technical Specifications
Drawn from selected parcel sections within the limestone-rich slopes of the Wonnegau, this Spätburgunder Reserve reflects the cooler microclimates and biodynamically managed vineyard rows of Westhofen. The subsoils, characterized by fractured Jurassic limestone and heavy clay marl, yield fruit with natural tension and high aromatic lift. Following precise hand harvesting and meticulous sorting, fermentation occurs spontaneously using indigenous yeasts in open-top vats, incorporating a measured portion of whole clusters to lend structural backbone. The wine matures on its fine lees for approximately 18 months in traditional French oak barriques and tonneaux, with a modest percentage of new wood to preserve varietal clarity and stony minerality.
🍾 About the Producer
With ancestral roots in Westhofen documented to 1663, Weingut Wittmann stands as a monumental force in the modern renaissance of Rheinhessen viticulture. Situated in the rolling Wonnegau district, the estate encompasses prestigious VDP Grosse Lage terroirs including Morstein, Kirchspiel, Brunnenhäuschen, and Aulerde. These steep, sun-drenched parcels feature deeply layered upper limestone and clay-marl colluvium over fractured subterranean limestone bedrock, fostering remarkable minerality and tension. Guided by cellarmaster Philipp Wittmann and his wife Eva Clüsserath, alongside his pioneering parents Günter and Elisabeth, the estate spearheaded organic cultivation in 1990 before achieving full Demeter biodynamic certification in 2004. In their vaulted 1829 cellar, hand-harvested fruit undergoes gentle pressing and spontaneous native-yeast fermentation in traditional large neutral oak Stück and Doppelstück casks. Renowned for chiseled, dry Rieslings and textural Burgundian varieties, Wittmann produces cellar-worthy benchmarks defined by intense saline depth, purity of fruit, and aristocratic limestone energy.
🍇 Grapes
Spätburgunder
🍷 ABV
12.5% - 13.5%