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Tasting Notes

Tasting notes
FINE+RARE, Jun 2022

Deep ruby red in colour, this superb effort by Martin Donatsch can currently only suggest what it might be capable of in years to come. That being said the mineral backbone and lingering salinity have all the hallmarks of the great things to come. The nose is pure, deep, intense and finessed with beautiful high note aromatics – on the palate the black cherry and red berry fruits are fleshy and ripe and interwoven with graphite, smoke, cured meat, schist and cocoa. Incredibly silky (even at this early stage), round and juicy, seamlessly textured, with intense and concentrated fruit... I wouldn’t be rushing to drink this anytime soon given the choice - cellar for at least 5 or so more years but make sure to store enough bottles to drink in 20 or even 30 years.

Critic Scores

Critic scores
96
95-96/100

Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate

More reviews and scores

95 - 96 points
Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
Score 95-96/100 · Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate, Feb 2020

Tasted from two different samples, one drawn before the filtration and one afterward, the unfiltered 2018 Pinot Noir "Unique" displays a dark color and opened with a deep, pure, fresh and intense, tart and concentrated, slightly toasty bouquet of black cherries and black berries intertwined with notes of dark chocolate, tobacco, cedar wood box, crushed slate and bloody hints of crushed iron and herbs. Generous on the intense yet elegant palate, this is a fleshy and concentrated Pinot with tart cherry and black berry flavors on the refined and promising, impressively tensioned finish. This full-bodied wine can currently give only hints about its talents, but the sustainable mineral grip and lingering salinity are highly promising. From the filtered tank that was ready to be bottled in early 2020 and already sulfured, the 2018 "Unique" opens very clear, pure, fresh and refined on the elegant yet also still reductive nose and shows a discreet expression of dark fruits, graphite, bloody meat, schist and chocolate. The palate is perfectly silky, round and fleshy, seamlessly textured, with intense and concentrated fruit and a crystalline and nervously mineral backbone structuring the full body. The tannins are perfectly extracted from both skins and 100% new oak barrels. This is a juicy yet pure and finessed, delicately fresh and crunchy Pinot that I'd cellar for at least 3 or 4 years but store enough bottles to drink in 20 or even 30 years. Tasted in January and February 2020.

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About the producer

Donatsch 1:1
Donatsch

Domaine Donatsch is one of Switzerland’s top wineries, based in the tiny valley of Bündner Herrschaft.

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