Andreas Schmitt is one of the most knowledgeable observers of the wine and gourmet scene in Germany. For 15 years, he managed his father Adalbert Schmitt’s gourmet restaurant “Schweizer Stuben”. The wine cellar he was responsible for is still considered legendary today. He then managed the gastronomy of seven hotels as COO of the Althoff Group until 2022. At times, no fewer than 13 Michelin stars shone above them. He then moved directly “into production”, so to speak, as Co-Managing Director of the Schloss Ortenberg winery. So when Andreas Schmitt says that it is time to give German wines from Burgundy grape varieties the status they deserve, he knows what he is talking about. He is now putting this to the test with a series of events. After the second of (initially planned) three evenings, it is time to take a look back.
Evening number 1: Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern (Cornelia Fischer)
As a man with both feet firmly planted in gastronomic practice, Schmitt did not want to simply organize the umpteenth blind tasting. Rather, the charm and challenge of his concept was the pairing of top wines in a sophisticated culinary environment. Station number one: the legendary Restaurant Überfahrt at the Seehotel of the same name in Rottach-Egern. All the spotlights have been on it recently, as Cornelia Fischer, a young new head chef, took over from Christian Jürgens.
For some participants, this shifted the due attention for the wines somewhat disproportionately to the menu. Nevertheless, it was basically a very successful pairing. After all, Fischer’s purist, regional style was to go extremely well with the new German Burgundy renaissance. There was also a conceptual harmony. Cornelia serves a “forerunner” for each course. This prelude presents a variation on the main theme, such as a particular type of fish or meat. This prepares the palate for what is to come. The wine pairings for each winery respond to this, with the starter wine also preparing the following “Grand Vin”.
The white wines
Two wineries were responsible for presenting the white wines. Firstly, Schloss Ortenberg from Ortenau in Baden and then the Von Winning winery from Deidesheim in the Palatinate. However, there were also two sidesteps, a sparkling wine at the beginning and a dessert wine at the end. F. Keller’s Grande Cuvée 2017 Blanc de Blancs is a single-varietal Chardonnay with an impressively long lees ageing period. However, its age is beginning to show, perhaps due to the difficult vintage. Things really got going with the two wines from Schloss Ortenberg for the “wild fauna (rabbit | chives)” course. To start: the Cuvée Furore (Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay) 2022 with rabbit slices from the pink roasted back. Pleasing precision on both sides, but also of moderate complexity. Then the kitchen and cellar shifted up two gears at once. St. Andreas Schlossberg Chardonnay GG 2021 accompanied a rabbit roll stuffed with liver and forelegs, accompanied by fermented red onions and bacon stock.
The old Chardonnay vines date back to the time when Ortenberg was an experimental vineyard. This explains part of the class of the wine – another is due to the commitment and sensitivity of the team around Matthias Wolf and Andreas Schmitt. Von Winning (formerly Dr. Deinhard) is a winery whose strengths are thought to lie primarily in Riesling. The Chardonnay from the Haardter Herzog 2021 belongs to the new site collection and, with its wood-accented power, is perhaps “too much” for the prelude to the sturgeon course. The revelation comes with the next pairing. “Into cold water” (sturgeon | fennel | verjus) with Winning’s top Chardonnay from the Kalkofen (KO) vineyard. The vines here are densely planted with 12,000 vines per hectare on red sandstone and tertiary limestone. The 2021 is juicy, complex, with great length and precise acidity – everything is in balance here, even with regard to the phenomenal sturgeon. Impressive proof that German Chardonnays now also possess international class.
The red wines
Two long-standing masters then participated in the red wine section. Paul Fürst from Bürgstadt in Franconia presented wines for which his son Sebastian was responsible. Bürgstadter Berg Erste Lage is the little brother of Centgrafenberg and Hundsrück. The cool, nervy 2020 complemented the guinea fowl prelude excellently. The other side of the spectrum was embodied by Schlossberg GG 2012 from Klingenberg. With spicy ripeness and still present fruit aromas, it stands for a style for which reductive vinification was not yet the only way to go. Of course, it was a delicate delight with the guinea fowl composition.
Fritz Keller from Kaiserstuhl also presented wines for which his son was responsible. First, he presented the Spätburgunder 2022 from Oberrotweil. As a VDP.Ortwein, the equivalent of a Burgundian Village, so to speak. It was a little too youthful for me, but it was an excellent accompaniment to the venison variations. Much more mature and complex was Eichberg GG 2018 from the same municipality, which went well with the superb venison | salsify | shallot. The wine was already quite accessible due to the vintage and had a somewhat soft acidity. At the same time, it demonstrated the enormous progress that has been made here in recent years under vineyard manager Friedrich Keller.
Evening number 2: Votum in Hannover (Benjamin Gallein)
In March 2025, a good four months after the evening in the Überfahrt, Andreas Schmitt hosted a second Burgundy event. This time in Hanover at the 2-Michelin-starred restaurant Votum. Like Cornelia Fischer, chef Benjamin Gallein embodies something like the young guard among Germany’s top chefs. However, Gallein is strikingly different from Fischer in terms of style. His cuisine uses many unusual ingredients and combines them with sometimes quite high risks. The mention of origins such as “Norwegian” or “Polish” shows that Gallein does not particularly care about regionality. However, he also does not allow himself to be pinned down to popular patterns such as “German-French-Japanese”. After the German-Franconian prelude, the continuation of the Burgundy series in a context that could be described in a broader sense as “world cuisine” was therefore logical and exciting. Among the participating winemakers, Weingut Fürst was replaced this time by Weingut Krone from the Rheingau, represented by Ralf Frenzel.
The white wines
In Hanover, a delicate, elegant Pinot Noir Rosé sparkling wine with Zéro Dosage from the Krone winery from the 2014 vintage kicked things off. A very successful start, especially with its phenomenal freshness. However, the pairing with some of the very different amuse-gueules proved difficult. Mushroom | hay | chervil went in a strong umami direction, while algae | oyster was clearly iodine-influenced. This calls for a more powerful mineral (but not fruity) sparkling wine. In other words, something that is almost only available in Champagne. Fritz Keller was then allowed to present his whites with the hand-dipped Norwegian scallop | cedro lemon | perilla | sake. Three Villages Chardonnay 2022 from young vines in three vineyards was extremely successful. Chardonnay in Germany can really go on like this! We would have loved to taste the Kirchberg Chardonnay next to it, the top Chardonnay from Keller. The Achkarrener Schlossberg GG Grauburgunder 2022, on the other hand, was somewhat more conventional, lacking a little acidity (due to the variety?).
The counterpart was once again Schloss Ortenberg. A missed opportunity? Because the reds that I was able to taste on site during my report for FINE – Das Weinmagazin last year are brilliant. Matthias Wolf presented the very good St. Andreas Chardonnay GG Schlossberg 2021 once again, this time alongside St. Andreas Grauburgunder 1G Andreasberg 2023. The vines here grow on rare granite weathered soils, which gives the wines a distinct character. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that we are not offending them too much by focusing on the accompanying course at this point. What Benjamin Gallein serves here under the title Cauliflower Polish | Parsley | Egg | Breadcrumbs is spectacular. It certainly sets a benchmark for a vegetarian course. What remains to be said is that Drei Dörfer is a promise for the future. This time, there was no big aha experience like Von Winning’s KO Chardonnay in the Überfahrt.
The red wines
This time, the reds were introduced by Stephan Attmann’s Pinot Noirs from the Von Winning winery. For the first time in this series, he had decided to present his top Pinot Noir in two vintages rather than different wines. Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad An den Achtmorgen GG is the name of the wine with full designation of origin. “Pretty German” is probably what people abroad will say about it. There was a discussion among the tasters about the potential for Pinot Noir on red sandstone. And indeed, although the 2020 impressed with its beautiful texture and appealing fruit density, it was not a truly great wine (at least at the moment). Especially as the course of souffléed saddle of venison | pistachio | autumn trumpet | chard would have been an ideal partner. The 2018 is much stronger. It is also quite direct in its own way, but in a very complex way. Here you begin to sense what Attmann means when he raves about the “colorful genetics” of the Pinot Noir vines in the Achtmorgen vineyard.
With the Krone winery, a producer joined the ranks who owns property in what is historically probably Germany’s most important red wine site, the Assmannshäuser Höllenberg. In 2021, publisher Ralf Frenzel took over the winery together with several partners. Since then, the ambition here has been to return to the very top of the league with red wines. Frenzel had brought two wines with him, 2014 Juwel and Assmannshäuser Höllenberg GG 2022. The presentation of the Juwel, the estate’s former (now discontinued) top cuvée from various vineyards, suffered from a faulty first bottle. The replacement bottle showed a beautiful freshness and great elegance even in a difficult year like 2014, but it struggled quite a bit in view of the mille-feuille of Wagyu & Onglet | Poverade | Wild garlic buds | Aligot. The Höllenberg, on which the Krone would like to concentrate in the future, fared much better. The 2022 (not yet on sale) is a monument, albeit still in the embryonic stage.
A first summary
The series will reach its (provisional?) finale in Frankfurt Main in fall 2025. Andreas Schmitt’s allusions to the culinary setting are very promising. What should a preliminary conclusion contain? On the one hand, that German Pinot Noir has impressively demonstrated its current class. But also that Chardonnay is likely to become a major topic in Germany in the coming years. This, at least in the top segment, perhaps at the expense of Grauburgunder and Weißburgunder. But then there is also the fact that German wines have an easier time pairing with the German aromatic cosmos. This may be a truism about the wines of all growing regions. However, some local wines do reach their limits when faced with great culinary complexity, perhaps because they do not take enough risks themselves. And finally, it also became clear that it is often difficult to integrate young top wines into a culinary context. The term “inaccessibility” of just filled bottles does not only refer to the tasting itself, but also to the dialog with the gastronomy.
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Stefan Pegatzky / Time Tunnel Images
