Philip Lardot - Der Narre Pinot Gris 2023

A delicious, single vineyard orange wine by Philip Lardot. About which he writes:

"Der Narre, meaning “The Jester,” is a single-vineyard Pinot Gris from Zeller Domherrenberg. The vineyard is situated at the very top of a steep slope deep into the side valley from the village of Zell, higher elevation than any of our other sites. 14 year old vines, pure grey slate with large lumps of quartz interspersed, full South exposition.

The name der Narre comes from a small clearing in the forest just above the vineyard site. This clearing is named Annamarktslay, and during the 14th century in an effort to avoid the dangers of the plague, Annamarktslay is where the Zell village market was hosted. While of course this medieval market was home to trading, etc., we imagine this clearing was also a site of entertainment through music, jesters, and so on in an otherwise dark time. Hand destemmed and fermented on skins for 14 days, 10 months of ageing in barriques. Only 600 bottles made.