The 2018 Pinot Noir Malans Unique is a spectacular wine from Martin Donatsch! Based on small, super ripe and concentrated berries (and very good yields—a dream for any winemaker), the nose of the 2018 is deep, pure and flinty, revealing perfectly ripe, dark cherry and berry aromas with delicate toasty and flinty as well as iodine notes. On the palate, this is a generously juicy but also refined and silky Pinot with refreshing tannins, highly stimulating salinity and a piquant finish. The red fruit is remarkable and stunningly fresh given that year. After the quantitatively disastrous 2017 vintage, nature hung lots of grapes onto the vines the year after, and Donatsch didn't reduce them too ambitiously. In the end, after an abnormally hot and dry vintage with early ripeness, this was a perfect decision. This Pinot, like the 2015, is made in a coolish and refreshing style from a vintage that brought so many rich and massive (red) wines with a lack of acidity. So many 2018s are clumsy, but Donatsch's 2018 Pinot Noir Malans Unique is a stellar wine of the vintage, pairing density and complexity with freshness and elegance. 13.5% stated alcohol. Tasted from magnum in Zurich, April 2022.