Wine Industry Report

Wallhausen & Baden-Baden/Germany…The wine estates Lämmlin-Schindler and Hartmut Schlumberger in the Markgräflerland district in southern Baden have joined The Prädikat Wine Estates. The VDP Baden now comprises 15 estates that jointly cultivate some 260 ha/643 acres (1.6%) of Baden’s 16,000 ha/3,955 acres. Regional chairman Claus Burmeister views both estates as ideal additions to the regional association: “With Weingut Hartmut Schlumberger, we welcome a quality fanatic on board, who brings with him great sensitivity for the Markgräfler terroir. We also look forward to benefiting from the experience of Weingut Lämmlin-Schindler, known as a top organic wine producer.”

PRIVATWEINGUT H. SCHLUMBERGER, Laufen
Posted on the estate’s website: “Membership in the association of Germany’s finest wine producers is the reward for years of striving to produce the best quality possible.” The 7.5-ha/18.5-acre estate primarily cultivates Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), as well as the local specialty Gutedel, and vinifies its wines in aged oak casks. It has numbered among the region’s top estates for quite some time. Ulrich Bernhart’s philosophy: “A grower who doesn’t love wine, has missed his calling. One who daily enjoys a “Viertele” (quarter-liter/8-oz glass of wine) will do everything possible to improve his quality, regardless of the effort involved.” It’s not for nothing that the consumer wine magazine Vinum remarks: “The wines combine the full-bodied character and fruit of Baden with the stimulating acidity of the Pfalz.” Ulrich Bernhart, who runs the estate in Laufen with his wife, Claudia Schlumberger-Bernhart, has been accepted for membership in the VDP only two years after his brother Gerd Bernhart in the Pfalz.
Additional information: www.schlumbergerwein.de

WEINGUT LÄMMLIN-SCHINDLER, Mauchen
Gerd Schindler cultivates his 13 ha/32 acres of grapes according to controlled ecological principles, i.e. without the use of herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fungicides and fertilizers. The mineral-rich, loess-loam soils in the sites Maucher Frauenberg and Sonnenstück lend the grapes the necessary strength. The wines owe their inimitable fruitiness and elegance to the high stone content of Jurassic limestone. The Markgräflerland’s local specialty is Gutedel, for which the Schindlers received high marks from sommelier Bernd Kreis for the “Vindication of Gutedel” – but Mauchen and the Lämmlin-Schindler estate are particuarly well known for fruity, powerful, top-quality red wines. More than 40% of their holdings are planted with Spätburgunder, 20% Gutedel, 10% each Weissburgunder and Chardonnnay.
Additional information: weingut@laemmlin-schindler.de