What to eat with Pinot Noir? Katharina Heger and the volcanic Kaiserstuhl.

Three generations on the Kaiserstuhl

Weingut Dr. Heger was founded in 1935 by Katharina's great-grandfather, a doctor who caught the wine bug in a town where wine was everywhere. He bought plots on the Ihringer Winklerberg and the Achkarrer Schlossberg. Her grandfather studied at Geisenheim and made sweet Ruländer, or Pinot Gris, Spätlese and Auslese, and her father took over officially in 1991.

Today Katharina works with her sister, who trained as a winemaker, while Katharina brings a background in hospitality and restaurants. As Andreas says, winemaking, service and cooking belong together.

Katharina grew up with wine, taking a sniff from her father's glass as a child.

Volcanic soils and a modern Spätburgunder

The Kaiserstuhl is volcanic, and Katharina says the vines must work hard, sending roots deep, which gives the wines their minerality. Germany's old-style red wines could be thin and tart, and Baden's were often sweet and full bodied, almost jammy. The family now aims for fresh Pinot Noir with structure and cherry fruit, looking toward Burgundy.

She pours the 2017 Mimus Spätburgunder, Erste Lage, from the Winklerberg. Mimus was her grandfather's nickname. Her father, one of the first in Germany to ferment in barriques, named the first wine from a barrel his father gave him after him. Katharina also explains the newer German classification, where Erste Lage and Grosse Lage mirror Premier Cru and Grand Cru.

Chicken ballotine with morels

Andreas debones chicken legs, keeping the skin as a casing, and mixes the meat with sautéed mushrooms, sage, salt and pepper. Rolled into an instant sausage, it is poached, cooled, then fried in butter until crisp, with fresh morels soaking up the juices. The sauce is roasted shallots and red onion, Pinot Noir, chicken stock and a touch of soy, reduced and finished with butter.

Why it works: chicken skin and mushrooms are made for Pinot Noir, and the wine in the sauce brings red fruit and acidity. Katharina finds the wine's acidity a natural match for the morels.

The poached roll is cooled so the meat sets before it is sliced and fried, and the thick skin of chicken legs carries plenty of flavor. People who remove chicken skin, Andreas jokes, are no longer his friends.

Silvaner from a horse-worked vineyard

Katharina also brings a Silvaner, a grape most people link with Franconia. In Ihringen it has been important for well over a century, and every winery still makes some. Pferd Willi is named after the horse that helps work the vineyard. It is fermented spontaneously and aged on its lees, and the warmth and volcanic soil give it more power than many Franconian examples. Andreas finds it bone dry but not lean, with layers and length.

For a long time Silvaner was considered simple, a frost-resistant workhorse, which may explain why so much of it was once planted around Ihringen. Being less aromatic than Riesling, it is not always easy to love at first sip, but well made examples show discreet depth from lees aging.

A blind red with seared tuna

For the blind bottle Andreas finds rose petal, wild berries, raspberry, ginger and clove, with silky, subtle tannins. He makes a salad of grilled portobello mushrooms and scallions with a ginger, soy, honey and lime vinaigrette by Katharina, topped with seared tuna. His rules: with red wine and fatty fish, pick a wine with subtle tannins, because firm tannins can taste metallic, and avoid raw vegetables. Watch to find out how close he gets to the wine, and why Katharina chose it.

Katharina's favorite pairings include Pinot Noir with lamb and the classic turbot with beurre blanc and Chardonnay. What fascinates her most is how a wine's flavor changes with each dish, and Andreas agrees that great wine makes food taste better and the other way around.

Go furtherTo explore the estates, vineyards and wines of Baden and Germany further, the wein.plus wine guide is a great resource.