2018 Pinot Noir Passion
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It was worth the wait as 2018 has turned out to be an outstanding vintage for the region. When speaking to The Wine Advocate’s Stephan Reinhardt, winemaker Thomas Donatsch drew parallels with the phenomenal 1947. This estate has been making wine in the Bündner Herrschaft (Grisons) wine region of Switzerland for over 100 years but it is the estate’s current guardians, Thomas Donatsch and his son Martin, that have really put the winery on the international fine wine map. Thomas is widely recognised as a pioneer in the region, producing fascinating wines from both native Swiss varieties as well as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Inspired by their many trips to Burgundy over the last 30 years (Thomas is an avid DRC collector), he and now his son Martin have been mastering their own serious interpretation of Pinot Noir. The first thing that jumps out of the glass with the 2018 Pinot Noir Passion is the wonderful purity of fruit. Pure cherry, strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrant flavours are soon accompanied by gorgeous crushed roses, black pepper and earthy liquorice. There is just a hint of luxurious milk chocolate or hazelnut cream too. The palate is wonderful in its concentration and balance – walking a tightrope of elegant acidity that then fans out in beautiful open, silky texture and flavour. Sweet, silky tannins, and juicy fruit are balanced by a clean mineral smoothness and hint of salinity that in combination are absolutely addictive. For such an elegant, fine wine it has amazing depth and body – really top class Pinot Noir.
Critic scores
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Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Very healthy crimson. Proper Burgundian nose. Well done! Marked fruit and acid knit together to produce something quite complex. (JR)
The 2018 Pinot Noir Passion offers a deep, intense and aromatic but also pure and finessed bouquet with perfectly ripe and elegant black berry, cherry and cassis aromas intertwined with spicy, toasty and stony notes. Lush, round and intense on the palate, this is a full-bodied, rich, dense, sweet and smooth, very elegant and balanced Pinot with a tight and tart but aromatically quite open finish that reveals matured plum and berry aromas along with mineral freshness and a firm, if not still pretty austere, tannin structure. The 2018 Passion Pinot is impressive in its combination of body, flesh, freshness and finesse. Due to its richness, the wine already drinks quite well, but it will gain even more finesse and complexity with further bottle age. In many ways, the 2018 tastes and drinks like the late delivery of the 2009. 13.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in January 2022.
Tasted from the vat before and after the filtration, Martin Donatsch's unfiltered 2018 Pinot Noir "Passion" offers a beautifully clear, fresh and aromatic bouquet of dark and red berries, cherries, crushed stones and peppers intertwined with a noble toast aroma, very pure and coolish and fascinatingly precise. The palate was lush, fresh and fleshy, very intense yet highly elegant, seamless, pure and vital, with remarkable acidity and ripe, perfectly extracted, silky tannins. There was no hint of charming sweetness or chocolate here, just a beautifully refreshing and pleasant Pinot Noir from what Donatsch father and son considered as the greatest vintage since 1947. (In the meantime, they have had first sips from the 2019 barrels, but I will quote them next time on their findings.) The filtered sample from the to-be-bottled tank that I tasted at the end of January was more reduced, clear and fine on the nose but showed the same purity and dark berry bouquet, just with less flesh. However, on the palate, the wine revealed great finesse and elegance, with a silky-finessed texture, refreshing acidity and very fine tannins. The finish was more tart and reminiscent of sour cherries and underlined the remarkably purity and finesse of this serious beauty. Consumers don't have to wait that long to appreciate the 2018, but they should buy enough cases, because the wine will still be great in 20 or even 30 years, as the 1990 forerunner demonstrated last year.