Piri Naturel Riesling

Piri Naturel Pet Nat Rose 2021

Region: Germany, Nahe

Grape: Dornfelder

Color: Rose sparkling

A deep garnet color with a hint of pinkish fizz.  
The juicy fruit flavors of pomegranate and plum, along with a subtle bitterness, provide a nice accent.  
The slightly fizzy sensation from the acidity and the natural character create an overall outstanding balance.  

This pét-nat is made from Dornfelder grown in clay and loam soils, fermented for a few hours after crushing and then pressed, bottled with some residual sugar.  
No added SO2.

【Producer Information】

A female producer opening a new era by combining a treasure trove of soils with centuries of history.

A new female producer has emerged from the village of Rummelsheim in Germany's Nahe region. Christine Pieroth, also known as Piri, is already attracting significant attention from discerning wine lovers in Europe. She is a female producer who will soon inherit a family legacy that has been built as mixed farmers in this region for generations.

Currently, she cultivates grapes and produces wine using a portion of her family's vineyards, employing farming and winemaking methods aligned with her own philosophy. She is starting to become known under the brand names Piri Wein or Piri Naturel. The Pieroth family has vineyards and a winery in the village of Rummelsheim, located 2km south of the confluence of the Rhine and Nahe rivers. To the northeast, across the Nahe and Rhine rivers, one can also see the vineyards of the renowned Rheingau region. As briefly explained in the overview of the Nahe region, Rummelsheim village is a microcosm of the Nahe region itself, with diverse and complex soils intertwined. Different grape varieties are planted in each small parcel, and the varying soils result in a wide range of wines. Piri's family has made a living as mixed farmers in this area for several hundred years. Of course, winemaking has also been their livelihood, and it is known that they even had a bottle from the 1789 vintage, so their history of winemaking is truly impressive. Until the 1960s, they were mixed farmers who, in addition to viticulture and winemaking, also grew crops such as potatoes and wheat, and raised cattle and pigs. However, with the progress of the times, they later focused solely on winemaking, preserving only 15 hectares of vineyards.

Piri cultivates vegetables and herbs herself as much as possible, with keen observation and insight. She picks the leaves of the herbs and plants she grows, designs them using a method similar to printmaking, digitizes them, and uses them for her wine labels, which shows her interest not only in winemaking but also in plants in general. She prefers to spend her daily life consuming vegetables and herbs grown on her own farm as much as possible, and inevitably, her wine philosophy and background are woven together by her consideration and love for the surrounding natural environment, which is well expressed in the wines she produces. It seems that Piri has inherited the ancestral blood of the Pieroth family very strongly.

Piri, who grew up with wine from childhood and learned that the most important thing for wine is to enjoy working in the vineyard and nurturing the vines, and that cellar work comes second. However, perhaps because wine was too close to her, or because she spent too much time with it, and being naturally curious, she once decided to leave wine behind and forget about it. She moved to Canada to experience the outside world. However, there too she encountered beautiful vineyards and was captivated, realizing again that her path was with grapes and vineyards, so she returned to Germany to pursue winemaking.

After returning to Germany, she studied at Geisenheim University, interned at the renowned Weingut Keller in Rheinhessen, and trained her palate by drinking a vast number of wines. Her true first vintage was 2018, but 2019 marks her first commercial release as Piri. The vintage of the wine making its debut in Japan is effectively her third winemaking vintage. Piri's hot words are filled with her philosophy (see below).

"While organic farming allows the use of copper and sulfur in the vineyards, I want to and do use far less than the permitted amounts. Instead of applying copper and sulfur, even if permitted, I prefer to scatter natural nutrient remedies in the vineyard, which I extract from vines, nettles, horsetails, and mugwort that grow in and around the vineyard. I believe this method helps the grapevines grow stronger and more resilient. Additionally, I've recently started adding milk whey from a local cheesemaker, and I'm also creating my own compost to become more of a Probiotic specialist in the future. I believe that each of these small steps will eventually come together to form a large, beautiful picture, and I expect that to happen.

The majority of the work, literally, the foundation and essence of our work, is to approach the land, that is, the vineyard. It is especially important to connect with, build relationships with, and converse with the microorganisms living in the vineyard and in the soil. I see the vineyard as a meadow where many flowers and herbs grow, and it is a habitat not only for grapevines but also for many wild animals, insects, and plants. For animals, it is a shelter, a nest, and a dining hall. If we simply create the opportunity, even in the small individual parcels of this village, different plants and animals will naturally grow in different environments. I believe that cultivating and maintaining what I call a "meadow" is not just the responsibility of farmers, but of all humanity. Now, and always, many seeds have been sown around me, and the harvest has already begun."

*Probiotic... Derived from "probiosis," meaning the symbiosis of living organisms, it is the opposite of antibiotics. It refers to living microorganisms, such as lactic acid bacteria, bifidobacteria, and natto bacteria, that improve the balance of intestinal bacteria and bring beneficial effects to health, as well as foods and pharmaceuticals containing them.