Spätburgunder and burgundy compared

While I am not known for my unbridled enthusiasm for German Pinot Noir, aka Spätburgunder, I jumped at the opportunity to take part in a small blind tasting of top Spätburgunders alongside some well-known and generally highly regarded red burgundies, all from the 2005 vintage, organised by Klaus-Peter Keller of Weingut Keller in Flörsheim-Dalsheim, Rheinhessen. With only 14 wines in total, six German and eight French, tasted in random pairs, this was hardly conclusive but it was certainly a revelation – not of Damascene proportions but extremely impressive nonetheless. Some of the burgundies in the original tasting plan were not...