Summary
Alde Gott Winzer Schwarzwald eG is the growers cooperative of Sasbachwalden, a wine village on the western edge of the Black Forest between Offenburg and Baden-Baden. Around 380 member farms work some 266 hectares of vines in the Ortenau – to a large extent steep slopes on weathered granite and slate soils. The clearly dominant variety is Pinot Noir, known here as Spätburgunder, which covers roughly 55 % of the area and is made both as a red wine and as Weißherbst. Riesling, Müller-Thurgau and Pinot Gris follow, along with traditional-method sparkling wines and a second pillar you only find in the Black Forest: fruit brandies, above all Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser.
History
The name is older than the cooperative. It comes from a legend dating to the end of the Thirty Years War: the Sasbach valley had been all but emptied of people, and when two survivors met, one is said to have called out in relief that the old God was still alive. The phrase became a field name, the field name became the single vineyard Sasbachwaldener Alde Gott – and finally the name of the cooperative.
The cooperative itself was founded in 1948, in the lean years after the Second World War. The logic behind it was the same as everywhere in Baden: many small family holdings with a few ares of steep slope could neither vinify nor market their wine on their own. Together they could do both. Over the decades the business grew into one of the larger producers in the Ortenau, with its own cellar, tasting room and events programme.
A second strand arrived in 1970: Alde Gott Edelbrände Schwarzwald eG, a separate distilling cooperative bringing together the fruit growers of the region. Since then wine and brandy have stood side by side as equals – a model that mirrors the dual nature of a landscape where vines and fruit trees share the same slopes.
Location & Terroir
Sasbachwalden sits exactly where the Rhine plain meets the Black Forest. The village spans an enormous range of altitude – from around 180 metres in the valley up to some 800 metres on the wooded slopes – and the vines occupy the warmest parts of it, facing west and southwest. Many parcels are steep enough that everything has to be done by hand.
Geologically the area is unusual. Instead of the loess, shell limestone and slate soils common elsewhere in Germany, weathered granite dominates here, with a share of slate. These meagre bedrock soils warm up quickly, store little water and force the vine to root deeply. The result is white wines with a fine, gripping acidity and a smoky mineral pull, and Pinot Noir with clear structure and good ageing potential.
Climatically the Ortenau benefits from the warmth of the Upper Rhine rift valley and from long, mild autumns. The Black Forest at its back slows cold easterly winds and cools things down at night – and that day-to-night swing keeps the aromatics fresh.
Style & Philosophy
The range is clearly tiered and carries telling names: Einblick covers the approachable everyday wines, Ausblick and Weitblick the higher quality levels, joined by specialities such as Süsse Aussicht, KuckKuck, Glückstag and Scheinheilig. The same logic runs through the brandies, which makes wine and spirit recognisable as one house.
Stylistically the cooperative stays true to the Baden tradition without being old-fashioned. Whites and Weißherbst are raised mostly in stainless steel to preserve fruit and freshness. The Pinot Noirs run from juicy and uncomplicated to more serious bottlings aged in wooden casks and barriques, some from old vines. One Baden speciality Alde Gott cultivates with particular care is Weißherbst: a pale, shimmering rosé pressed from a single variety – here Pinot Noir – with notes of strawberry and cherry.
The sparkling wines are all made by traditional bottle fermentation from selected base wines. And the fruit brandies cover the whole Black Forest spectrum: Kirschwasser, plum and other fruit spirits, marc brandies and by now a Black Forest whisky too.
Famous Vineyards & Wines
Almost all the wines carry the village site name:
- Sasbachwaldener Alde Gott – the defining single vineyard of Sasbachwalden and the source of the cooperative name
- Sasbachwaldener Alde Gott Spätburgunder – the house red, fruit-driven or wood-aged depending on the range
- Sasbachwaldener Alde Gott Spätburgunder Weißherbst – the rosé speciality, often as a Kabinett
- Riesling from weathered granite – taut, citrussy and markedly mineral
- Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc from the Einblick range – the approachable whites of the Pinot family
- Sparkling wine by traditional bottle fermentation, plus Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser and other fruit brandies
Awards
Alde Gott is among the regularly decorated producers of Baden. Individual wines have won prizes at international competitions – the old-vine Pinot Noir took gold at the Berliner Wein Trophy in 2020, and there have been successes at the Mondial du Pinot. Wines from the house also turn up repeatedly in the leading German assessments by Vinum, Selection and Mundus Vini, and rankings of the largest German producers place the cooperative well towards the front.
At least as important for its reputation is what happens away from the bottle: tastings, guided walks through the steep vineyards and a tasting world with a wine bar in Sasbachwalden make this one of the most visited wine addresses on the edge of the Black Forest.