Oliver Zeter

“I’m not your typical winemaker, forced to balance a family winemaking tradition against my own vision. I consider myself lucky to have started from scratch. It lets me do what I want, pursuing perfection with no worries about stepping on anyone’s toes but my own.” Oliver Zeter

The winery is situated above Neustadt, on the edge of the village of Haardt. A carefully renovated charming and characterful building built in 1922 from local sandstone, originally the offices of a bulk wine trader.

The heart of the property is the impressive, one and a half storey, vaulted cellar, where Zeter’s best red wine barrels and amphoras “silently work”. Perfect for maturation.

Brothers Christian and Oliver bottled their first wine in 2007 and have already impressed their peers in Germany. They farm six hectares and Oliver’s work experience in South Africa shines through in these stellar wines. A rising star and a name to watch.

Oliver makes both red and white wines; most of the white wines are lees aged to add depth to the flavour.

The Grauburgunder and Sauvignon Blanc Fumé have some of the wine fermented in old oak barrels also to add to the character. Low yields from the vineyards, particularly in the case of the Riesling from Nussriegel, old vines and a great site, make wines with distinct richness and excellent complexity.

One of his red wines, Z, is a blend of three varietals, both Cabernets and some Shiraz. Aged in barrel for 12 months, it as a smooth, earthy character and shows a mature and opulent style.

His Pinot Noir, a reserve wine harvested from three vineyards is aged in a mix of new and old oak to refine the palate to a velvety, opulent plummy richness, redolent of Burgundy.

Their sweet wines are both interesting and diverse. The Sweetheart is made from Late Harvested Sauvignon Blanc and is a forward, intense wine with exotic, spicy notes.

The Goldschatz is a multi-vintage wine from Sauvignon Blanc, Ortega, Huxelrebe and Rieslaner.

The Sauvignon was harvested as Trockenbeerenauslese (very late harvest) and made into wine which was “mis-laid” for a while. Now fully mature it was blended with the other varietals to make this golden rich and fruity white with hints of nougat, chocolate and coffee.

The Blissful Drinking Bear that adorns the label comes from the quill of a well known Pfalz artist named Otto Dill, a friend of Oliver’s great grandfather Walter Baer (German for bear).

On one occasion in 1933 Walter was unable to meet his friends for a regular ‘glass of wine or two’ and the artist sent the sketch on a postcard to his friend Walter the ‘bear’, and the postcard was signed by all the friends present that day. Oliver has the postcard in his kitchen.

He declared that the bear had been with him all his life and when he made wine he would go on the label.

www.oliver-zeter.de

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