The Grape Varieties

Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris)
Despite its reddish grape skins Grauburgunder counts as a white wine.  It is the most important variety for Weingut Franz Keller Schwarzer Adler apart from Spaetburgunder (Pinot Noir) and has been made for generations at our winery, always as a dry wine.  Vinifying Grauburgunder into a dry wine was a pioneering movement.  Weingut Franz Keller Schwarzer Adler’s work led the Kaiserstuhl away from the hitherto sweetish, heavy Rulaender style into which all Grauburgunder was made.  (Rulaender is the old local name for the variety and still in use today for sweet wines).  The new, dry style of Grauburgunder only became popular in the 1980s and is now the accepted way of vinifying this variety.
Our Grauburgunder wines from the Oberbergener Bassgeige site are scented and fresh while our Grauburgunder from the Grand Cru site Achkarrer Schlossberg  is concentrated and mineral.  The very best grapes are made into our Spaetlese and Grauburgunder-Selection wines which are matured in big oak barrels and smaller barriques.  Last but not least we also make alluring dessert wines from botrytised Grauburgunder which are listed as Ruländer Auslese and Ruländer Trockenbeerenauslese.
 

Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) as the third sibling of the Pinot family is also very important to us.  Weissburgunder is generally more slender than Grauburgunder and our Weissburgunder from the Oberbergener Bassgeige is particulalry refreshing with fine fruit aromas.  Weissburgunder from the Oberbergener Pulverbuck site is more marked by minerality.  The best Weissburgunder is matured in big oak barrels and smaller barriques for our Weissburgunder-Selections which are finely textured and remain filigree despite their power and exquisite ageing potential. 

Mueller-Thurgau is a much appreciated grape variety at our estate, particularly to go with cold meats and generally as a beautiful wine for every day.  Yields for our Mueller-Thurgau are severely restricted and we see this as a prerequisite to bring out this variety’s potential.  It is a light and fresh wine, predominantly fruity with its typical fine muscat-like aromas.  Naturally more crisp than the Pinot family it is also easily digestible. And here is something of a surprise:  we think that our Mueller-Thurgau is a perfect partner for oysters!

Internationally, Chardonnay is probably the most important white wine variety – it adapts well to various climates and soils and the variety is thus found around the world.  Yet, if Chardonnay is not challenged by climate or soil it does not turn into a challenging wine either.  Here at our Oberbergener Bassgeige vineyards Chardonnay is juicy, scented and powerful, notwithstanding its finesse and elegance.  The very best Chardonnay grapes are matured in barrique and are listed as Chardonnay-Selection.  It isn’t just us who think that the Kaiserstuhl provides excellent conditions to grow great, age-worthy Chardonnays:  Our 2008 Chardonnay Selection A was voted ‚Best German Chardonnay‘ (94 points) in  „Eichelmann 2010“, a prestigious German wine guide.

While Riesling is Germany’s most important white grape it is not very common in the Kaiserstuhl, here the Pinot varieties are much more predominant.  Our Riesling grows in the higher altitudes of the Kaiserstuhl.  It is slender, has lovely, bracing acidity and lots of fruit.  Riesling’s potential comes particularly to the fore in our Riesling Sekt, one of our sparkling wines with a fine mousse.  

Silvaner is one of Germany’s oldest cultivated white wine varieties and we grow it in our Oberbergener Bassgeige vineyards.  The vines are old and almost a rarity these days as only little Silvaner is still grown around here in the northern Kaiserstuhl.  But we are just like all lovers of Silvaner:  we enjoy and appreciate this fresh wine with its vegetal aromas and soft acidity, not least as a perfect accompaniment to asparagus.  

Our plantings of Sauvignon Blanc are comparatively small but we love the way it enhances our portfolio with its typical and intense gooseberry aromas.  However, in its Kaiserstuhl incarnation Sauvignon Blanc is extraordinarily light and elegant with interesting mineral notes.  It is eminently suitable as aperitif and very versatile.

Unlike almost any other grape variety, Gewuerztraminer seems destined to be made into luscious  dessert wines.  This highly aromatic varietal demands good sites and a lot of care in growing and making wine to bring out its typical rose petal scent.  By the way, we highly recommend that you try our Gewuerztraminer with our home-made terrine of foie gras – a taste-marriage made in heaven.

Spaetburgunder (Pinot Noir)
Apart from Grauburgunder, Spaetburgunder is our most important grape variety.  The Spaetburgunder grown in the Oberbergener Bassgeige matures in big oak barrels into scented red wines with soft tannins.  The best Spaetburgunder grapes which come from the top sites of the surrounding villages are matured in big oak barrels and smaller barriques for our Spaetburgunder –Selections.  Our combined Spaetburgunder offer won accolades as the ‚Best Red Wine Collection“ in the 2010 edition of the „Eichelmann“, a prestigious German wine guide.  They reasoned: „The Spaetburgunder wines by Fritz Keller are pure, concentrated, elegant and complex. They possess power and finesse and have fascinating length.  Great Pinots from the Kaiserstuhl.“
We also place a lot of importance on selecting the right clones.  Our aim is to plant vines that bring forth fruit that is optimally suited to the Kaiserstuhl climate and its soils so that the resulting wines will be the best possible expression of terroir.

Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are two varieties that originated around Bordeaux but have successfully found new homes in many places in both the old and new world.  Since the two varieties complement each other very well they are part of the typical assemblage of many great Bordeaux wines.  We also make them into a cuvee.  Merlot is rounded, sometimes even with a tinge of chocolate, fruity and full-bodied.  Cabernet Sauvignon has a more pronounced acidity and more tannin and is therefore more edgy and angular.  Both varieties are grown on top sites and are matured in barrique.