Riesling is Germany’s (and Weingut Leitz’s) calling card, so it’s easy to forget that Germany is also the world’s third-largest Pinot Noir producer. The southerly Baden has a long history with the “Pinot” family (its vineyards were planted by the same Cistercian Monks who established Pinot Noir in Burgundy), and there are equally stunning Pinots to be found in other German growing zones, including Rheinhessen, Pfalz, and Leitz’s home base in the Rheingau. In a warming climate, cooler areas like the Rheingau are now becoming prime Pinot Noir territory—delivering a level of freshness that is especially welcome when the grape is vinified in rosé form.

Since taking over his family’s property in the mid-1980s, Johannes Leitz has grown the vineyard holdings and the notoriety of this estate exponentially. Most of the estate’s 40 hectares of vines (up from just 2.6 in 1985) are arrayed on the famed Rüdesheimer Berg, a steep hillside that is home to some of the most revered “grand cru” Riesling vineyards in Germany. Leitz was named the 2011 “Winemaker of the Year” by the prestigious Gault-Millau wine guide.

The Rheingau growing zone is a relatively small one, covering a roughly 20-mile stretch of the Rhine River, which takes an abrupt westward turn near the town of Mainz. Weingut Leitz is headquartered at the western end of the Rheingau appellation, in Rüdesheim, where soils are dominated by slate and quartz; the Pinot Noir for this wine hails from the nearby village of Johannisberg, where quartz is mixed with loam and loess (wind-blown silt).

This is a “direct-to-press” style of rosé, meaning that the grapes are de-stemmed, allowed to macerate with their skins for about three hours, then pressed into stainless steel tanks to undergo fermentation. A long, cold fermentation produces a wine of low alcohol and crisp, citrusy acidity. Bright copper-pink in the glass, it sends up perfumed aromas of cranberry, blood orange peel, wild strawberry, pekoe tea, pink grapefruit, pink peppercorn, dried flowers, and wild herbs. It is tangy and quite savory, perfect for serving as a food-friendly apéritif. Pull the cork and pour into all-purpose stems at 45 degrees, safe in the knowledge that just about anything you choose to serve with it is going to work—prosciutto with melon, salmon croquettes, bruschetta, you name it!