FARMING: From 2017, certified organic and practicing biodynamic

VINEYARD: 4 Ha in Ruppertsberg and Maikammer

ALTITUDE: from 80 m / 263 ft to 170 m / 558 ft SOILS: Loam, Limestone and Sandstone

VARIETIES: 100% Riesling

VINE AGE: from 5 to 40 years old

VINE TRAINING: Guyot

HARVEST DATE: September 17, 2021 YEASTS: Native

FERMENTATION & ÉLEVAGE: 30 hours maceration on the skins, and then only the free run juice is used for fermentation: 35% goes in large 500L fuder casks and 65% in stainless steel tanks. There is no temperature control. Élevage for up to 8 months sur lies. No filtration and gravity natural decant

MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION: Yes, complete and unforced

SULPHUR: No SO2 added

ALCOHOL: 11.5%

ANNUAL PRODUCTION: 2,250 cases

Seckinger’s wines have some producers in southern Pfalz scratching their heads, meanwhile Germany’s new generation of sommeliers are sipping gleefully. Was geht? Here’s a biodynamic Pfalz producer taking cues from the natural Chablis and Jura ouillé or topped-up contingent, as it digs into the terroir of their historic vineyards of mostly red sandstone (buntsandstein). Aber hallo! Seckinger’s making some outstandingly rakish wines bone dry, hazy and savory.

These are not wines for those that enjoy the so-called ‘traditional’ style, often with at least some residual sugar and a more fruit-forward style. Wines are vinified bone dry. What’s more, the moniker of ‘natural winemaker’ or ‘avant-guard winemaker’ irritates Jonas. He’s proud of them working biodynamically, but he’s not dogmatic about issues such as sulphur, and prefers to talk about his craft as cellar master: Our goal is to harvest all wines at a maximum of 90 °Oechsle, so that we do not exceed 12.5 percent alcohol by volume…Then, I must follow the wines, barrel by barrel.