The Dr. Bürklin-Wolf Estate has a tradition dating back to 1597, it is one of the largest and most important Estates in Germany.
In a treasure trove of top sites in the unique landscape of the Mittelhaardt, we produce Riesling of the highest quality in harmony with nature. The winery has always been considered a pioneer and trailblazer of change in German viticulture.
Bettina Bürklin-von Guradze, the eldest daughter of Dr. Albert Bürklin, inherited the Estate from her parents in 1990, and since then has taken the lead with her own vision. Together with Christian von Guradze, she was one of the first in Germany to introduce the classification of vineyard sites according to the Burgundian model, this had a decisive influence on the development of top German viticulture. The main goal is to continue where their ancestors left off: To produce Riesling of the highest quality in harmony with nature. To achieve this, the entire vineyard was converted to biodynamic cultivation in 2005. This allows the diversity and depth of the terroir to be perfectly reflected and presented.
The decision to live a consciously enjoyable life and to act in an ecologically sustainable manner in harmony with nature is far more than a world view. It is also the basic requirement for first-class, authentic wines with character.
For many years we pondered the question as to how we could realize the inherited treasure of our forefathers – the unique terroir of our top-ranked vineyard sites – in our wines, and how we could maintain a healthy balance with nature in this god-given resource in order to pass it on to our children.
While we were in the midst of our consideration, during our travels in the USA we came across a book that was to answer our questions: “Biodynamic wine, demystified” by Nicolas Joly. We became involved in initial discussions and considerations of the fascinating subject of biodynamic viticulture.
Many French colleagues accompanied us on the path towards a decision, foremost among them Marc Kreydenweiss, who was a trusted adviser at our side for many years, and encouraged us to take this decisive step.
„In biodynamic viticulture, the source of strength from which the vine draws its energy becomes a unitary whole.“
This contact with biodynamics coincided with our passion for producing wines that have even more typical site or terroir expression. It had been clear to us for some time that we would not be able to achieve this by introducing innovations in the cellar. An intense exchange of views with our colleagues already implementing biodynamic measures ensued, and resulted in our decision in 2005 to transform the Estate in its entirety to this new method of viticulture. In recognition of the fact that biodynamics involves work in very small steps, we can now appreciate that this decision was fundamental, and showed us the way. The soils are more vital, the vines are more resistant, and the wines much more individual than they were in the past.
JAN HOCK - VINEYARD & BIODYNAMICS
The biodynamic principles fascinate us every day. They allow us to preserve the part of creation entrusted to us and to conserve the resources of soil and vine in the long term. In combination with the passionate commitment of my staff, we will be able to continue producing outstanding wines of world-class quality in the future - that is our motivation and our goal for the coming decades.
NICOLA LIBELLI - CELLAR MASTER