Our Wine Choice: Friedrich Becker Chardonnay Pfalz Mineral Trocken 2019

Fritz Becker of the Friedrich Becker winery in the Pfalz region of Germany is widely acclaimed as one of country’s leading producers of spatburgunder (pinot noir) reds, a category that is rapidly gaining traction in many international markets because of rapidly improved winemaking techniques, climate change and prices well below those for pinot noir in the grape’s Burgundian homeland. However, you can say exactly the same for German chardonnays – the only difference being that they are not nearly as well known.

The Friedrich Becker Chardonnay Pfalz Mineral Trocken 2019 is a stunning example of a modern German oaked chardonnay, and as the name says it has an intense minerality. It’s worth pointing out that the best vineyards of Schweigen-Rechtenbach, the southernmost wine-growing village in Pfalz, where the Friedrich Becker winery is based, have a limestone soil similar to that in Burgundy, in fact, many of these vineyards are in France, in the northern tip of Alsace. Fritz Becker’s cellars are just a couple of minutes from the French border.

What makes this wine so beautiful is the way the power and concentration and packed into a seamless package with that minerality and a lively, but by no means strident, acidity. The oak is beautifully interwoven with the creaminess from long lees aging, really adding complexity rather than just being window dressing. 2019 was the last great German vintage, and this wine has all the drive and balance I expect from 2019 but no hint of the fat that weights down some 2019 white Burgundies.

I first tasted this wine before it was released and was wowed by it. The other day I drank a bottle at home and was reminded of all this, and also by what great value it offers. It is still available on the market and it has only just reached ideal drinking. If you can resist it now, then it will age for many more years.

– Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor