Picture: Tasting at Weingut Müller-Catoir in Neustadt-Haardt, Pfalz
The Germany-South Tour by ombiasy WineTours (August 30 – September 5, 2015) was the second of three wine tours in Germany in 2015, organized by Annette Schiller. The group was small - there were 5 of us, including Annette and Christian Schiller. This posting provides an overview.
We visited a total of 17 wineries (8 members of the VDP, the German association of elite wine makers; 2 in Alsace) in 3 different German wine regions where predominantly grapes other than Riesling are planted: Baden, the most southern German wine region and Germany’s answer to Burgundy; Pfalz with its almost Mediterranean climate and voluptuous whites and reds; Southern Rheinhessen where a variety of white grapes and also Pinot-Noir grow. In addition, we visited 2 wineries in Alsace in France.
Annette Schiller: Our way of traveling allows wine lovers to fully experience authentic Germany. Drawing on our love and deep knowledge of Germany and close personal ties to many personalities in the wine scene, our small group visits many of the hidden gems that other tours pass by, but which are essential to comprehend what German wine is all about.
Baden • Pfalz • Alsace • Rheinhessen
DAY 1: Sunday, August 30
09:30 am Departure by coach from Frankfurt am Main.
11:30 am Tour and tasting at winery Schloss Neuweier (VDP) in Baden-Baden-Neuweier.
Wine has been produced at this impressive 13th century castle for more than 700 years. About 100 years ago Riesling became the dominant grape and passion. Still today, winemaking takes place in the vaulted cellars that date back to the 17th century. The Rieslings grown in the steep vineyards produce sumptuous, racy wines with delicate fruit. In 2012 the Schätzle family bought the estate and continues to produce wines of uncompromising quality.
Our host Robert Schätzle, the owner and winemaker, studied oenology and comes from a family with a long tradition of winemaking in the Kaiserstuhl region to the south.
01:00 pm Wine pairing lunch at Röttele’s 1 Michelin starred restaurant in Schloss Neuweier.
The restaurant in the beautiful old castle is gorgeous and the owner Armin Röttele is a 1-Michelin star chef.
Chef Armin Röttele prepared an exquisite menu featuring the wines of Robert Schätzle.
Robert Schätzle joined us for the luncheon.
Before the lunch, we tasted with Robert his new wines of the 2014 vintage. For the lunch, we had older wines of Weingut Schloss Neuweier.
04:15 pm At Mercure Hotel in Freiburg - a 4-star modern hotel in the city center close to the famous Freiburger Cathedral with great views over Freiburg.
We enjoyed the rest of the day in the beautiful Old Town Freiburg.
DAY 2: Monday, August 31
09:15 am Tour and tasting at winery Salwey (VDP) in Oberrotweil, Kaiserstuhl, Baden.
The Salwey family has been making wine since the mid 18-hundreds. The present winery was founded in 1950 by the grandfather of Konrad Salwey, the current owner. The Burgundy grapes always played a central role at this winery. Konrad’s father devoted much attention to the Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris, and became sort of an unofficial ambassador for Pinots from Baden. Konrad Salwey inherited his father’s passion for the Pinot varieties. He vinifies the white Pinots in large oak casks and the Pinot Noir in traditional barriques crafted from native wood.
Benno Salwey was our host.
11:30 pm Tour and tasting at winery Fritz Keller (VDP) in Oberbergen, Kaiserstuhl, Baden.
With the Keller family, which can trace its roots as winemakers and hoteliers back to the Thirty Year War in the early 17-hundreds, everything started with producing and offering outstanding food. Franz and his wife Irma, parents of the current owner, were among the first generation of chefs to start the German revolution in the kitchen more than forty years ago. Well beyond the immediate post WWII era, the urge to simply have enough food on the table – quantity over quality- lingered on. In 1969 Franz and Irma Keller and their restaurant Schwarze Adler were awarded one Michelin star, which the restaurant defends until today. For Franz Keller, the central idea of winemaking was to produce top quality wines that perfectly accompanied the creations in the kitchen. The current generation, Fritz and Bettina Keller have brought the winery to a new level. They just finished construction of a brand new winery that is an architectural landmark, beautifully integrated in the landscape. Their efforts to produce top wines, among them stunning Pinot Noirs, were acknowledged by their selection as new member of the VDP in 2013.
Fritz Keller welcomed us.
01:30 pm Wine paring lunch at Restaurant Schwarzer Adler in Oberbergen, Kaiserstuhl, Baden.
This 1-Michelin star traditional restaurant run by the Keller family of winegrowers offers a harmonious mix of Baden country charm and elegance. The menu is a successful marriage of French and German cuisine reflecting the frontier on the nearby Rhine River, which is the border between Germany and France. The impressive wine list boasts 2 600 different wines, including a good selection of bottles from both Baden and France, in particular Bordeaux. The Kellers are Bordeaux lovers and also Bordeaux wine merchants. Their vaulted storage cellar hewn into the rocks across the street makes your palate water when looking at the aisles of Bordeaux cases with only the top names on them.
Melanie Wagner, the fantastic Sommelière of the Schwarze Adler, selected the wines for us.
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05:00 pm Guided sightseeing tour of Old Town Freiburg.
Following the tour, we explored the beautiful Old Town Freiburg.
DAY 3: Tuesday, September 01
09:00 am Tour and tasting at winery Huber (VDP) in Malterdingen, Breisgau, Baden.
The Huber Estate is located in Malterdingen in the Breisgau area. More than 700 years ago, Cistercian monks came to Malterdingen, and found the same terroir as in Burgundy and thus started to plant Pinot Noir grapes. Still today, in many reference books on grape varieties, “Malterdinger” is used as a synonym for Pinot Noir. In 1987 Bernhard Huber and his wife Barbara started their own estate, leaving the co-operative where they produced wine before. They now own 65 acres of vineyards of which 70% is planted with Pinot Noir and the rest with Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, a little bit of Muskateller, Riesling, and Müller-Thurgau. All Huber wines are dry. Bernhard Huber does not produce any botrytised noble sweet wines or ice wines, nor does he chaptalize or add sweet reserve (Suessreserve) to generate sweetness in the finished wine. All his wines are fully fermented, dry and at around 13.5 percent alcohol. Bernhard regularly received the highest awards for his Pinot Noir and became something of a legend for producing top Pinot Noirs that can compete with the best of Burgundy. Bernhard Huber, only 53 years old, died in June after a battle with cancer. His wife Barbara wrote me in a moving email that she and their children try to keep Bernhard Huber's vision of wine making alive and that they will continue to produce top quality wines.
Yquem Viehauser was our host. Julian Huber greeted us.
11:30 am Tour and tasting at winery Dr. Heger (VDP) in Ihringen, Kaiserstuhl, Baden.
This estate is also one of the young wineries by German standards. It was founded in 1935 by Dr. Max Heger, a country doctor. Today the winery is in the hands of the third generation. Joachim Heger and his wife Silvia are in charge of 50 acres planted primarily with Pinot Noir and the white Burgundy grapes. The winery lies in the Kaiserstuhl, a small volcanic group of hills in the Upper Rhine Valley in southwest Germany. The town of Ihringen enjoys the highest average temperature in Germany. While some fine Riesling and Silvaner gets made here, it is really Pinot country. The wines are rich, very well-structured, compact, but nevertheless elegant and subtle.
Markus Mleinek was our host.
01:15 pm Lunch at Restaurant Holzöfele in Ihringen, just across the street from Dr. Heger winery.
03:00 pm Departure. We left the Baden area on the right bank of the Rhine River, at the foot of the Black Forest Mountains, and crossed over the Rhine river into France, into the Alsace region. This lies just across from Baden on the left bank of the Rhine at the foot of the Vosges Mountains.
04:30 pm Tour and tasting at winery Maison Léon Beyer in Eguisheim, Alsace, France.
It was very interesting to taste the Beyer wines and compare them with the German wines. Even wines of the same grape variety are distinctively different. This is due to different terroir but in a large part to the different philosophy of winemaking in Germany and Alsace. In a nutshell: the modern German winemaking aims at elegant, fruity, crisp, perfectly balanced wines whereas the Alsatian winemaker wants body, boldness and strength for the wines to accompany the hearty Alsatian food.
Since the year 1580 the Beyer family has been making wine in Eguisheim. The “Maison Léon Beyer” as we know it today came into existence in 1867, when Emile Beyer founded the domaine and the négociant house. Maison Léon Beyer produces wine sourced from its own vineyards (50 acres), -among them are holding in the two Eguisheim Grand Cru vineyards, the Eichberg and the Pfersigberg-, and from leased contracts (100 acres). The Maison Léon Beyer is run by the father and son team, 13th generation Marc Beyer and 14th generation Yann Beyer, with advice from Léon Beyer, the grandfather. The domaine has a long-standing reputation for making bone-dry wines.
Marc Beyer was our host.
06:30 pm At Hotel Hostellerie du Château d'Eguisheim - a 3-star, family-run hotel in a typical Alsatian half-timbered building in the center of the picturesque village. The rooms are beautifully designed with a stylish, modern twist. The hotel is included in the "Guides Charmes".
Eguisheim is the cradle of winemaking in Alsace. When the Romans conquered Alsace in the early centuries, it was here that winemaking was introduced. It is an incredible picturesque, medieval village, surrounded by vineyards, and its narrow, concentric streets highlight the architecture of the half-timbered houses.
07:30 pm Dinner at Restaurant Caveau Heuhaus in Eguisheim.
DAY 4: Wednesday, September 02
10:00 am Tour and tasting at winery Domaine Weinbach in Kaysersberg, Alsace.
The Domaine Weinbach is one of the most prominent estates in Alsace. It is beautifully situated at the foot of the majestic Schlossberg hill within the 12.5 acres large Clos des Capucines, the former Capuchin monastery still today completely surrounded by a high stone wall. Today 73 acres of vineyards belong to Domaine Weinbach. The Capuchin monks started making wine in 1612 and established the Domaine Weinbach. During the French revolution it became a national property. In 1898 the domaine was acquired by the Faller brothers. Théo Faller, the next generation, developed the estate into one of the best wineries in Alsace. His unrelenting commitment to delivering excellence and his focus on the incomparable terroirs and grape varieties produced wines of the highest quality. After Théo’s death in 1979, the winery was managed by his widow Colette and their two daughters, Laurence and Catherine, who continued the commitment to quality. In 1998 they started the process of converting to biodynamic winemaking. I quote the Fallers: “The main motivation is to increase soil activity and thus stimulate soil/root/aerial system exchanges with the objective of producing better quality, terroir driven and aromatically complex grapes and wines. Biodynamics helps us care for and protect our vines not only for now but also for future generations.” In 2014 Laurence died at age 47 and in February of this year Colette passed away. Catherine Faller is now the sole manager of the estate.
Catharine Faller was our host.
12:00 pm We continued our journey north on the Alsatian side of the Rhine River and stayed on the French side to cross into the Pfalz region of Germany in Wissembourg. This was a pretty drive, since we followed the Alsatian wine trail for some miles before we continued on the autoroute.
01:00 pm Wine pairing lunch at winery and wine tavern Jülg in Schweigen.
Just across the border in Schweigen, you find the winery Jülg. Unusually, their vineyards are in Germany as well as in France. Karin Jülg runs the wine tavern which is known for outstanding traditional Pfälzer cuisine. In the mid 80s Werner Jülg converted the family winery from a low-end mass producing winery -so typical for the Pfalz in those days-, into a wine estate that produces outstanding wines of the highest quality. He is also known for his excellent Sekt making: the Blanc de Noir produced in the Method Champenoise with traditional Champagner grapes is absolutely delicious. Winery Jülg produces only dry wines mostly with traditional Burgundy grapes. After finishing his studies in oenology son Johannes is now also working in the winery to continue with the family tradition.
We were greeted by Karin and Werner Jülg. Johannes Jülg joined us for the lunch and guided us through the wine pairings.
03:30 pm Deutsches Weintor (German Wine Gate).
A landmark built in 1936 which greets the traveller when coming from France. It also marks the beginning of the German Wine Trail. You can climb 18 meters to the top and enjoy the view over the breathtakingly beautiful landscape south towards the Alsace and north towards the Pfalz.
04:00 pm Tasting at winery Ökonomierat Rebholz (VDP) in Siebeldingen, Pfalz.
Hansjörg and Birgit Rebholz, the third generation of the Rebholz family continue what the founder, the Ökonomierat Eduard Rebholz began: producing highly individualistic wines by working as close as possible with nature. The Rebholz wines do not undergo any chaptalization, fining, or deacidifying nor will sweet reserve be added. The Rebholz wines are crystal clear, sharp, clean, simply beautiful in their transparency and underscore the individuality of the terroir, the climate, and the grape. 75% of the 47 acres under vine are planted with Riesling and the Burgundy grapes, 10% with Chardonnay and the rest with Silvaner, Sauvignon Blanc, Muskateller and Gewürztraminer. Due to the purity the wines have an enormous ageing potential. Hansjörg Rebholz was nominated as winemaker of the year 2013 by the Austrian lifestyle magazine Falstaff.
Hansjörg Rebholz welcomed us and Janina Wilsch led the tasting.
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