Summary
Sektgut Christmann & Kauffmann in Gimmeldingen is one of Germany's most ambitious sparkling wine projects. Founded in 2019, it unites two worlds: the Pfalz terroir expertise of Steffen Christmann – for years president of the VDP – and his daughter Sophie Christmann with the champagne experience of Mathieu Kauffmann, who spent more than a decade as chef de cave at Bollinger. Across around 12 hectares on the Haardt escarpment they make biodynamically grown sparkling wines by traditional bottle fermentation that age several years on the lees and are bottled without dosage.
History
The idea grew out of an observation: Germany has in Riesling a variety predestined for sparkling wine – and yet German Sekt was long absent from the world's top tier. Steffen Christmann, owner of the Pfalz VDP estate A. Christmann and for many years president of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter, wanted to change that. Together with his daughter Sophie Christmann he founded an independent sparkling wine estate in 2019.
The decisive partner was Mathieu Kauffmann. The Alsace-born cellar master ran the cellar of the champagne house Bollinger as chef de cave from 2000 to 2013 – one of the most prestigious positions in Champagne – and afterwards was cellar master at the Deidesheim VDP estate Reichsrat von Buhl, where he had already drawn attention with Pfalz sparkling wine. For the grapes, Christmann leased around 12 hectares from the neighbouring Weingut Mugler in Gimmeldingen. From the start it was clear these plots would be farmed biodynamically.
Site & Terroir
Gimmeldingen lies on the Haardt escarpment, the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest, north of Neustadt an der Weinstraße. The region is warm and sunny – in itself a challenge for sparkling wine, which needs grapes with moderate sugar and lively acidity.
That is precisely why the details matter: higher, cooler parcels, early picking dates and soils that preserve freshness in the vines. The sites used around Gimmeldingen – among them Biengarten, Kapellenberg and Quacken – offer different combinations of Buntsandstein, limestone and loam. Biodynamic farming is meant to strengthen the vines' vitality and, as Steffen Christmann puts it, carry the expression of terroir into the bottle as undistorted as possible.
Style & Philosophy
The working method follows Champagne closely without copying it. Picking is by hand into small crates, followed by very gentle pressing. The base wines ferment spontaneously in used wood and go through malolactic fermentation. Then comes traditional bottle fermentation and several years on the lees – the cuvées currently rest around 32 months on the lees, some considerably longer.
The most rigorous step comes at the end: the wines are bottled without dosage, as Brut Nature. There is no sugar to smooth over edges – fruit, acidity, lees character and terroir stand unadorned. That only works with physiologically ripe, absolutely clean fruit, and it defines the house style: taut, clear, saline-mineral and with a fine, creamy mousse.
Famous vineyards & wines
Instead of vintages the wines carry sequential cuvée numbers, each denoting a tirage:
- the 100 series – the single-variety Riesling sparkling wines, the estate's unique selling point
- the 200 series – cuvées from the Pinot family varieties Chardonnay, Weißburgunder and Spätburgunder, stylistically closer to Champagne
- parcels in Gimmeldinger Biengarten, Kapellenberg and Quacken supply the fruit
The Riesling sparkling wine is the real statement: it shows that Germany's flagship variety can reach world class as a sparkling wine too – with an aromatic profile no champagne can imitate.
Awards
Although the estate has only existed since 2019, the trade press placed it in the front rank of German sparkling wine producers remarkably quickly, and specialist media have repeatedly described it as a benchmark for high-end German Sekt. Mathieu Kauffmann's reputation from Champagne and Steffen Christmann's standing as a terroir grower certainly helped – but what convinces above all are the wines themselves, which have given the category of German Sekt a new level of ambition.