Pirouette White 2023

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 Can wine drinking be a political statement?

This is a question which has been following me for quite a while as I came across projects like Sekko Soziale (Social Secco) or Kein Wein den Faschisten (Not a Wine for Fascists). With its very clear messages against the growing right wing movements in Germany these are projects deeply identified with Hamburg and a certain political and social culture that you can experience there.

Still, I have to admit that in northern Germany wine is still connected with a certain kind of elitism and exclusiveness that often excludes people from it. I sure know that this is a generalization, but it is interesting to see that there is barely any wine shop as soon as you leave the richer parts of town. And surely not independent ones.

Even though there is still a predominance of older and traditional wineries, often represented by labels showing their cote of arms or chateaux in countries like France or Germany itself, there is a change going on.

The new demands of a changing market where concerns about what really is inside wine, less alcohol, environmental issues and social responsibility are building a favourable ground to the growth of nature wines.

Last 8th of July I was at a presentation of the wines produced by Kai and Kristina Heilemann at the charming Arc restaurant in Hamburg. 

I have to admit that I was positively impressed by their low intervention wines that try to reflect the complexity and beauty of a unique terroir where there is "the best schist in the world" according to Kai. 

Its Pirouette 2023 is a complex wine where the typical freshness and salinity of Riesling with very present citrus fruits and green apples is allied with more complex flavours of smokiness and light must. It also has an impressive finish inviting us to some summer food dominated by bitter vegetables such as radicchio or endives.

Even though I really liked the wines presented (even including some which are not available to sale) this Pirouette has fascinated me to a wide extent and I am looking forward to repeat this experience some time soon.

When looking at the other people who were present at the event, you could notice that it has attracted a younger public working with wine, with different interests and approach to wine than the normal visitors of wine fairs. 

Still, and as I later talked to Kai, this nature wine movement it is still a very urban phenomena with low expression around the places where the wine originally comes from. And this is, somehow, reflecting a major political conjuncture in Germany where the difference between the major cities and the vast countryside is growing more and more evidently as it can be stated by the latest election polls. 

16,5/20
Country: Germany
Region: Mittelrhein 
Grapes: Riesling
12%
Winemaker:  Kai Heilemann

Website: https://weinbau-heilemann.de/collections/

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