2018 SHELTER WINE CO "LOVELY LILY" BADEN PINOT NOIR

2018 SHELTER WINE CO "LOVELY LILY" PINOT NOIR BADEN, GERMANY. 100% Pinot Noir. (Organic)

This is the delicious and great value entry-level Pinot Noir from Shelter Wine Co “Lovely Lilly” is named after their vineyard and cellar dog Lilly who passed in 2014. Her memory is kept alive in this bright and playful Pinot, and her energy remains at the winery with a new young pup who has taken over all jumping, chasing, panting, running and bouncing-around duties. About:The husband-and-wife team of Hans-Bert (pictured above) and Silke Wolf are making inspired, delicate and polished Pinot Noirs in a region dominated by heavy, cumbersome, oak-and-alcohol-laden Pinot Noirs that taste, well, often not so much like Pinot Noir. In a region overrun by mega-sized, agriculture/industrial cooperatives, Hans-Bert and Silke farm their own few hectares of vines with great care, making only a little bit of wine, with great care.

Originally, the name of the winery, Shelter, came from the old Canadian hanger that they rented at the beginning of their journey. For a few years now they’ve been in a smart new winery that they designed and built and which combines what I think are the key philosophies of the estate: style and simplicity. The barrel room and cellar, while not dug into the ground, has the ground piled on top of it; a beautiful garden of wild flowers insulates the estate. Solar panels to the right power it.

The vineyard and cellar work is just as straightforward. No herbicides or pesticides are used in the vineyards; harvest is done completely by hand. In the cellar, a short cold soak is followed by a delicate press (normally the stems are removed, though this can differ from vintage to vintage) and fermentation in open-top vessels. Once fermentation is complete, the juice is transferred into barrel, with the few new barrels being outnumbered by those with up to five years of age. (Importer)