The winery Reinhold & Cornelia Schneider is situated in Endingen on the north side of the Kaiserstuhl. The estate was established in 1981 and all the wines are from the vineyards in Endingen. Here there are only one einzellage by the name Engelsberg. As this is one very large and definitely not very uniform einzellage, the Schneiders have decided that the Endinger Engelsberg-name has no meaning. So all wines are bottled without einzellage-name. But all wines are parcel-bottlings from within this einzellage and often divided by the type of soil. This will be named on the label with three different letters: -A- - meaning the wines comes from loam, -C- - meaning the wines coms from loess and –R- wines that are grown on volcanic weathered soil. Then there are also wines made from a combination of these three soil-types labeled as -Trio-. The style of wines at Weingut Schneider is a very fine and focused wine. The wines are made in a traditional manner, handmade and nature-oriented. Long spontaneous fermentations are often used and there is less wood on the wines than normal for this area. Actually Weingut Schneider makes no red spätburgunders in barriques. The top selection being aged in old 500 liter casks. I was very impressed with the tasting we had in Endingen on September 17th 2010. Especially fine were the weissburgunders and the top spätburgunder was for me the finest spätburgunder I tasted in the Kaiserstuhl. If it should be compared to anything I feel it is made more in the lines of a producer like d’Angerville than in any new fashionable way. These wines gets my highest recommendations.
Weisser burgunder spätlese trocken*** 2009
Pretty nose. Elegant, quite aromatic. Some fine minerality. Some balsamic notes and leafs. Nice body in the mouth. Good concentration. A lightly earthy weissburgunder with fine fruit. Mineral. Leafs. Pretty acidity. Well-balanced ’09. Very good wine with a great QPR.
Weisser burgunder spätlese trocken*** -Trio- 2009
Less aromatic on the nose, more minerality. Fine and better depth. More powerful in the mouth. But again clear and prezise style. Concentrated. A little more fatness and a touch wood. Better depth and finer minerality. Again great acidity for the ’09-vintage. Great weissburgunder and another QPR-winner.
Weisser burgunder spätlese trocken*** -C- 2009
From loess. This shows more aromatic notes again, but also with some fine minerality. Light wood-notes. In the mouth this is slimmer than the –trio- with a finer elegance. The minerality is showing a lot more in the mouth than on the nose. This has very fine depth. Again superb acidity and balance. Lots of finesse and style here. Great wine and my favorite weissburgunder.
Ruländer spätlese trocken*** -C- 2009
Quite aromatic nose with hints of banana and leafs. Some stone and minerality. Fullbodied in the mouth. Again aromatic fruit with hints of leafs, banana. Some lime and stone. Some minerality. Fine, but lacks a little the depth of the weissburgunder. Quite elegant grauburgunder with fine acidity and length. Very good.
Ruländer spätlese trocken*** -R- 2009
Richer and more intense nose. Again aromatic with a touch of the volcanic soil. Powerful and rich grauburgunder in the mouth. Aromatic nose, but with better depth and a fine minerality and volcanic hints that gives darker notes to the wine. Again good acidity. The finish shows a little more alcohol. Very good and better than the –C-.
Chardonnay spätlese trocken*** 2009
Mineral and “slim” chardonnay on the nose. Medium bodied in the mouth. Still good concentration. Just slimmer than what one expects for this grape. Touch fatness in the fruit. Quite mineral style. Clear. But perhaps not the depth of the weiss- or grauburgunder. Fine acidity and length. Good.
Weisser burgunder auslese trocken*** -R- 2009
Aged in barriques. This shows the oak on the nose, but also a richer and riper fruit with hints of tropical fruit and minerality. Powerful weissburgunder in the mouth. Showing fine minerality in the fruit. But with the does it give more depth? Some of the finer notes are masked at this point. Perhaps aging will do it good. Medium acidity. Good length. Good wine.
Ruländer auslese trocken*** -R- 2009
Aged in barriques. The nose remains quite mineral. Hints of banana and leafs. Some oak, but more in the background here. Powerful grauburgunder in the mouth. More fatness and lower acidity. The oak is noticeable in the mouth. The minerality is there and better integrated with oak than on the weissburgunder. Still it is less transparent in style and do lose some of the mineral depth with the addition of the oak. Medium acidity. Long dry taste. Good wine and better than the barriqued weissburgunder.
Spätburgunder QbA trocken*** -R- 2005
Intense nose. Quite fruity and showing some development. Light volcanic hints. Medium bodied spätburgunder in the mouth. Rich and fruity style with some volcanic hints. A little on the simple side. Little oak. Fine acidity. Light tannins on the back. Light bitter-note on the finish. Good.
Spätburgunder QbA trocken*** –C- 2008
More closed on the nose. Hints of stone, cherries. Cooler fruit. Medium bodied in the mouth. A little lighter than the previous wine. Again cooler fruit. Cherries. Hints of stone and light minerality. A finer wine that is very young eight now. Good acidity. Light tannins on the back. Again a slight bitter-note on the finish. Very good.
Spätburgunder QbA trocken*** -Engelsberg- 2007
Here the name Engelsberg is used as this is from that original parcel. Young and fruity on the nose. Light oak and fine minerality. Prettier fruit here. Tight wine in the mouth. Elegant and acidic style. Fine fruit. Young red berries, florality, minerality. Needs time to develop. Clear style. Very fine acidity and matching tannins in the back. Very pure and focused spätburgunder. Great wine.
Arnt Egil Nordlien
Tasting notes: Sep-10