Fromm Pinot Noir Spielmann Malans – 2015

Only 50 cases were produced. We only have a very limited allocation of this wine. Per the Wine Advocate:- “Fromm’s 2015 Malanser Pinot Noir Spielmann opens clear, ripe, fresh and spicy on the nose, with ethereal notes, remarkable purity and perfect fruit! This is a pretty coolish and aristocratic Pinot from a terribly warm vintage. Full-bodied, round and seamless in its elegant, velvety texture and very fine tannins, this is an intense, well defined and perfectly balanced Spielmann full of energy, vitality, grip and tension. It finishes with perfectly ripe cherry and black currant aromas intermixing with refreshing mineral flavors and, again, ripe but refreshing tannins. The Spielmann is a great new but extremely rare Pinot Noir for Switzerland. Needless to say, it’s not exported overseas. Georg Fromm, his nephew Walter and his son Marco produce a quartet of beautiful single vineyard Pinot Noirs—the organic-cultivated 2014s and perhaps also the 2015s are unrivalled in their purity, freshness and authenticity. Called Selvenen, Fidler, Spielmann and Schöpfi, they are all grown in small single plots west of Malans (Graubünden), a north-facing village on the bottom of the Vilan mountain. The vineyards are on glacial soils with a high share of schist. Their main differences, however, are to be found in the age of the vines and the type of clones, along with different expositions, micro climates and soil characteristics. It is important to know, however, that the Fromm family does not want to produce four different styles of Pinot Noir. Instead, they try to find out the essential characteristics of each plot that should be reflected in the wine. That’s why all the Pinots are vinified more or less the same way, with differences only in the proportions of whole and slightly crushed berries and the share of new barriques. After four or five days of cold maceration (which is not very “bio” though), the musts are fermented in oak, with indigenous yeasts and only a gentle extraction. The aging in barriques (of which 30% to 50% are new) takes 12 to 14 months before the wines are bottled with just a light filtration and sulfur dosage. From the Schöpfi vineyard, they also produce an excellent Merlot that is as fresh and pure as the Pinots and a great alpine alternative the the Merlots de Ticino. The vintages In contrast to 2013 and 2015, 2014 was an unsettled vintage re: the weather conditions. Summerly warm temperatures in April and May caused an early start in the vineyard. July and August were pretty cold and wet and caused some vegetal flavors although the autumn was sunny and warm. The wines are pure, fresh and elegant, with a remarkable finesse and vitality. July and August were very dry and sunny in the 2015 vintage—the first biodynamic vintage at the domaine. Of the 2015 vintage, I just had three wines (no Selvenen, no Merlot), but all of them are gorgeous in their generosity, prefect ripeness and refined density! It would have been easy to pick super ripe grapes with must weights far above 100° Oechsle in that relaxed year, but the Fromms picked their grapes pretty early to keep the freshness and aromatic complexity in the berries. I didn’t taste any of the white wines though.” Stephan Reinhardt