German Pinot Noir has long been the clever wine collectors’ secret. While most people believe the famously fickle fruit has French origins (but can we ever be sure of such things?), several other countries with similar climates to Burgundy are producing excellent wines using Pinot. And Jean Stodden, with his deep-coloured, silky wines, has long been a guilty pleasure.

Germany is the third producer of Pinot Noir (after France and the USA), so perhaps it is not that surprising to find excellent, age-worthy wines from the country. Based in Ahr, the Stodden family has been in viticulture for centuries, in fact, the first record of their name connected to wine (Riesling, which they still produce) dates back to 1578. However, it was Alois Stodden who really put the winery on the map, when he planted their prized Pinots in 1900.

Today the estate is run by Alexander (who took over the estate in 2006, starting in the cellars in 2001), the fifth generation of Stoddens to understand how best to use the family’s 7-hectares. Whereas in the past Stodden’s superb reputation had been for the dryness of their wines, Alexander is taking the wine a new direction. He changed the fermentation systems in order to bring out the elegance of the fruit, which has given his wine a much softer quality. He also converted to sustainable farming methods such as hand harvesting and, where necessary, vendanges vertes. This has won him much critical acclaim, notably from Decanter. The magazine awarded him title of ‘best Pinot Noir in the world outside Burgundy’ for his Spätburgunder, Alte Reben 2010. The wine beat 80 others from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the US. He has also won four grapes from Gault et Millau and Eichelmann awarded him five stars and named him wine producer of the year in 2014.

All the praise has led to immense popularity for the Jean Stodden nine reds and a white. Many of these are very reasonably priced, so while investing in a case or two won’t be too hard on your pocket, but finding the wines might be a little bit harder. As of Q2 2019 just one bottle of Jean Stodden Recher Herrenberg Spatburgunder Grosses Gewachs, 2016 (91 points aggregate score) was available on wine-searcher.com. Other cuvees and vintages were more or less the same.