2019 Weingut Rainer Schnaitmann Lämmler Lemberger Grosses Gewachs is among the world’s most exquisite and expensive Lemberger-based wines. If you find the name of this wine overwhelming, keep reading, and we’ll break it down for you. Every single word has a meaning.
Weingut Rainer Schnaitmann Story
While local people are very humble because you won’t hear about Württemberg as much as you would about more well-known German cities, they make up by being creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial. You might have heard of a few products that originated here: Porsche, Daimler/Mercedes-Benz, and Bosch. And it’s entirely suitable that one of the best Lermberger wines, and I’m not afraid to even call it luxurious (wink, wink), comes from Württemberg.
The Schnaitmann family has cultivated wine grapes for almost 600 years in Fellbach. For most of its history, the Schnaitmann family produced bulk wine and sold it by barrel.
Things changed when, in the early 1990s, Rainer Schnaitmann, instead of becoming an architect, decided to carry on the family’s winemaking tradition. Convinced that the regional vineyards held untapped potential, Rainer studied oenology and apprenticed overseas and European wineries to learn how to make great wines. In 1997, he established the Weingut (winery) Schnaitmann Estate with 3 hectares and an old barn cellar leased by his father.
Success came with the first vintage with Rainer’s wines included in the “Gault Millau Guide,” the Pinot Noir from Lämmler won the first prize.
He was later recognized as “the most prominent and rapidly rising newcomer of the past decade” by Stephan Reinhardt’s “The Finest Wines of Germany: A Regional Guide.”
In 2006, Raianer Schnaitmann joined the “Verband deutscher Prädikatsweingüter” (the Association of German Prädikat (Top) Wine Estates, or VDP), the youngest wine estate invited at the time.
Since 2016, Schnaitmann Estate has been certified organic, and today, it’s listed among Germany’s 100 best wine estates, the absolute top vineyard in the Württemberg area.
2019 Schnaitmann Lammler Lemberger GG
In the Bottle
The Lemberger grapes for this wine came from Fellbacher Lämmler vineyards near Württemberg in the Frankonia wine region. If Lemberger sounds foreign to you, you might have heard of Blaufränkish, the variety believed to have derived from the eastern part of modern Austria.
According to VDP, Lämmler qualified as Grosses Gewächs (GG) – the highest quality German vineyard. Why does it matter? As in France, Germans believe that the terroir (place) where the grapes come from determines the quality of the wine, not the winery or winemaker’s name. As in Bourgogne, the biggest challenge here is marginal climate, and the vineyard’s location is the main factor determining the grapes’ ripeness and quality of the resulting wine. Best sites equal the best sunlight exposure.
Like Mosel Grand Cru, Fellbacher Lämmler vineyards are planted on steeply sloped hills, making it part of “heroic viticulture.” The grapes are hand-harvested, lasting up to 9 weeks in some years because it takes multiple passes to pick them at optimum ripeness.
The wine went through whole cluster fermentation with native yeast and was aged for 18 months in neutral 300 and 500-liter barrels and bottled unfiltered.
In the Glass
2019 Lämmler Lemberger is an excellent example of flavors precisely mirroring the aromas. It starts with a hint of mushrooms and autumn leaves and is followed by black currant, marionberry, and chokeberry and underscored by graphite, dark chocolate, and a touch of hatch pepper. Two secret weapons of great wine – acidity and tannin – are singing in unison in Lämmler.
Aftertaste
The best part of 2019 Lämmler Lemberger is that it unites fans of fruit-forward New World wines and snobs of Old World style. No wonder our Wine Swinging club members unanimously declared it a fave of the German wine-tasting evening.
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