Buy wines of Weingut Am Klotz
A few years ago, there was a winery at Isteiner Klotz in Markgräflerland that lacked a successor. The families from Sektweingut Reinecker and the Kellers from Schwarzer Adler recognised the uniqueness of the vineyards and took it over in 2018.
The families, who have been friends for a long time, and indeed across both current generations, have long been deeply rooted in the Baden winegrowing scene. The Reineckers run the private sparkling wine cellar of the same name, which also produces the sparkling wines of the Keller family from Schwarzer Adler.
The Keller family, in turn, produce some of the best Burgundy wines in the country and run the legendary Schwarzer Adler restaurant. The Weingut am Klotz offered the two families a field for experimentation that is rarely found in Germany.
Its uniqueness lies not only in the spectacular rock on the edge of which the vineyards are located, but also in the rock itself: Jura limestone, as it is known from the Jura and partly from Burgundy, but hardly anywhere else in Germany. No sooner said than done, the two families realised the "Weingut am Klotz" project, converted the vineyards to organic farming and bottled their first wine, a 2018 Pinot Noir.
The Isteiner Klotz is a rocky outcrop, where you can see today that the Rhine has been working on it for a very long time. After all, the Isteiner Klotz once blocked the Rhine's path northwards, which is why it used to flow into the Mediterranean via the Rhône Valley. Today, the rock is part of a nature reserve, very popular with climbers and also the landmark of the surrounding vineyards.
There are relics from the Neolithic period, a chapel from the 11th century, a ruined castle and tunnel systems from the Nazis, who used the Klotz as part of the Siegfried Line and in some places even blasted it to their liking. Today it provides a habitat for a variety of rare animal, fungi and plant species. You can find the praying mantis as well as the hoopoe, various wild bee species and more than 350 different butterfly species. It was therefore clear to the families from the outset that not an ounce of chemicals would be used there, meaning that the vineyard would be farmed organically. Although the Markgräfler Land is one of the warmest regions in Germany, the wines are comparatively cool.
This has a lot to do with the fact that they are situated at 360 metres above sea level, which is quite high by German standards.
Even in summer, the nights there are very cool, which is a blessing for viticulture, as the acidity is retained while the flavours become more complex.
© Images: Winery Am Klotz