Summary
Weingut Alexander Laible in Durbach is one of the most striking new foundations in German winegrowing of the past twenty years. In 2007 Alexander Laible – who grew up in his family's long-established Durbach estate – started out on his own, and only two years later he was celebrated as discovery of the year. Across around 13 hectares in the Ortenau and around Sinzheim he makes dry, coolly drawn white wines in which Riesling plays the leading role, complemented by Weißburgunder and Grauburgunder, Chardonnay, and Spätburgunder and Lemberger for the reds. The signature is unmistakable: delicate, mineral, precise – and deliberately without the muscle you might expect from such a warm growing region.
History
The Laible family has been rooted in Durbach for generations and counts among the defining winegrowing families of the Ortenau. Alexander Laible accordingly grew up in the family business, but chose against the comfortable path. In 2007 he founded his own estate in Durbach – a fresh start with no cellar, no label and no customer base, while the original estate continued under the name Weingut Andreas Laible with his brother at the helm.
The foundation was a set of vineyards Laible was able to take over from a relative in Sinzheim near Baden-Baden. Parcels in Durbach and in the area around Lahr were added. The start came remarkably fast: with one of his very first vintages the estate attracted attention well beyond the region and was named Discovery of the Year by Gault&Millau in 2009; in the same year Alexander Laible was honoured as Europe's best young winemaker. The estate has grown steadily ever since without giving up its artisanal scale.
Location & Terroir
Durbach lies in the Ortenau, the northern heartland of Baden, where the vineyard slopes run straight up against the Black Forest. The climate is mild and sunny – Baden is Germany's warmest growing region – yet the slopes along the forest edge bring cool nights and a marked difference between day and night temperatures. It is precisely this freshness that makes possible the fine acidity and precision that distinguish Laible's wines.
The soils are varied. In Durbach, weathered granite and primary rock shape the vineyards, giving the Riesling a taut, salty-mineral note. In the parcels near Sinzheim and around Lahr, loess, calcareous marl and weathered limestone come into play – soils on which the Pinot varieties and Chardonnay develop their creamy texture and roundness. The predominantly southwest-facing slopes deliver sunshine well into the late afternoon along with good air circulation, which keeps the fruit healthy.
One Baden peculiarity greets you right on the label: in the Ortenau, Riesling is traditionally called Klingelberger – a name that goes back to the historic single-variety planting at Schloss Staufenberg and is still cherished today.
Style & Philosophy
Alexander Laible's approach can be summed up in two words: reduction and calm. In the vineyard that means consistently low yields, a great deal of handwork, selective picking and doing without anything that puts quantity before concentration. For the top wines the yields lie below 50 hectolitres per hectare, for the middle tier at a maximum of around 65 hectolitres – figures well under what is customary in Baden.
In the cellar the second half of the philosophy takes over: give the wine time. Gentle handling, long lees contact and a deliberately unhurried ageing produce wines that work through tension and length rather than sheer weight. The Rieslings are dry, citrusy and saline, the Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Chardonnay clear and texture-driven, often with restrained use of wood. The reds from Spätburgunder and Lemberger follow the same cool, elegant line rather than a broad, jammy style.
The star pyramid
Rather than slotting into an association hierarchy, the estate tiers its range through its own easily read star system:
- One star – the reliable base wines, in which origin and varietal character come through clearly
- Two stars – wines from significantly reduced yields with more density and ageing potential
- Three stars – the summit from the best parcels with very low yields, marked by minerality and length
Notable Sites & Wines
The estate's most important origins are the Durbacher Plauelrain – one of the classic Ortenau sites – as well as parcels near Sinzheim close to Baden-Baden, among them the plots known as Sätzler and Frühmessler, plus vineyards in the vicinity of Lahr.
Notably, many wines are communicated not through the vineyard name but through fantasy names – a deliberately accessible alternative to the thicket of German wine labelling. Among the best-known labels are the Rieslings Tausend Sterne and Grenzenlos, the Chardonnay Heaven, and a Spätburgunder that carries its soil in its name: Muschelkalk. Dry Riesling forms the backbone of the range and is the wine in which the house style can best be read.
Awards
For an estate founded only in 2007, the list of accolades is remarkably dense. Gault&Millau named Alexander Laible Discovery of the Year in 2009, and in the same year he was honoured as Europe's best young winemaker. In 2017 came Collection of the Year from the magazine Der Feinschmecker, and in 2020 the magazine Selection chose the estate as Winery of the Year. Added to that are regular top scores for the dry Rieslings in national tastings and successes at international competitions. Taken together, these results have turned Alexander Laible within a few years from a newcomer into one of the most closely watched addresses in Baden.