How we made it
The successor of our first red was harvested in September 2015 and bottled in April 2016. The cuvée consists of 80% Regent and 20% Dornfelder. The Regent vines grow in Sulzfeld (just a few kilometers away from our winery) on shell limestone. Dornfelder grows in the corner of our Domina vineyard and was planted to “improve” the color of that cuvée. We harvest it separately.
The Regent grapes were bursting of ripeness but remained relatively low in sugar. They were crushed and fermented on the skins for 2 weeks, gently pressed and further fermented in old oak. Dornfelder has one advantage: its stems ripen very nicely. So a foot crushed (semi-)carbonic maceration was a no-brainer. The wine was fermented in old oak as well. This blend has won every internal blind-tasting, those wines are partners in crime.
Fact sheet
Varieties: 80% Regent, 20% Dornfelder
Location: Sulzender Cyriakusberg, Kitzinger Eselsberg
Soil: shell limestone, Keuper
Harvest: 24./25.09.2015
Regent fermented on the skins for 2 weeks
Dornfelder foot crushed, (semi-)carbonic maceration for a week
Malolactic fermentation and aging on the lees in an old oak
Bottled: April 2016
Bottles produced: 3,000
Alcohol: 10.5%
Acid: 4.3 g/l
Residual sugar: 0.0 g/l
Bottle size: 0.75 l