Odinstal’s terraced vineyards remain rustic in nature, and are found at the end of a dirt road that climbs 350 meters to 19th century manor house and cellar. With a view of the upper Rhine plain on the horizon, we are standing in the Pfalz’s highest vineyards. It’s easy to see why this is a grand cru monopole, but is a place that is solemn, with nature intact. Odinstal remains a working farm at its heart, with grazing cows providing fertilizer, and all of the biodynamic tinctures grown and prepared on site. The formal yet impromptu tone, one finds at the winery also comes through in the wines’ style: buttoned up yet wild. Sulphur in the wines is minimal, and many wines are bottled completely without sulphur or filtration (ungeschwefelt & unfiltriert). It’s a long way from the well-known traditional Pfalz estates where high residual sugar, pesticides, and sulphur are still too often found even today.