Summary
Collegium Wirtemberg is the largest growers' cooperative in the state capital Stuttgart – and at the same time one of the most ambitious cooperative operations in all of Württemberg. Around 150 hectares of vines are spread around the local Württemberg hill, in slope, terrace and steep sites above the Neckar. The business was created in 2007 from the merger of the two Stuttgart growers' cooperatives of Rotenberg and Uhlbach. Red dominates: Trollinger, Lemberger and Spätburgunder account for most of the area, while Riesling leads among the whites. Above it all stands the house's landmark – the sepulchral chapel on the Württemberg.
History
Viticulture around the Württemberg hill is centuries old: the ancestral castle of the House of Württemberg once stood on the hill, and the slopes below were planted with vines as early as the Middle Ages. As almost everywhere in Württemberg, the growers – called Wengerter here – organised themselves into cooperatives over the course of the 20th century: the small family holdings could hardly manage press house, cellar and marketing on their own.
Rotenberg and Uhlbach, two neighbouring Stuttgart wine villages, each ran their own growers' cooperative for a long time. In 2007 the two merged and gave themselves a shared, deliberately historic-sounding name with Collegium Wirtemberg – the spelling with an "i" refers to the old form of the state's name. Two medium-sized operations thus became Stuttgart's largest wine producer, today with around 200 members, about a dozen employees and an annual output of roughly 1.3 million litres.
Philipp Kollmar has been managing director since autumn 2023; in the cellar, long-serving cellar master Thomas Eckard shapes the signature of the wines. A large share of production is sold directly – through the wine shops in both districts, the online store and the restaurant trade.
Location & Terroir
The vineyards climb the slopes above the Neckar between and around Rotenberg and Uhlbach. These are classic Württemberg steep and terraced sites: partly supported by dry-stone walls, partly workable only by hand. The river acts as a heat store and the south- and south-west-facing slopes gather the sun – a microclimate that reliably ripens even late varieties such as Lemberger and Cabernet crossings.
Geologically the area is a textbook case: alongside the Keuper, marl and clay soils typical of Württemberg you also find travertine with still-visible inclusions of small marine creatures, as well as sandstone. This combination gives the wines their particular spice – a salty, mineral note in the whites, structure and grip in the reds.
The two best-known single vineyards of the house are the Rotenberger Schlossberg and the Uhlbacher Götzenberg. Both are regarded as prime cuts of Stuttgart viticulture – and both lie within sight of the sepulchral chapel on the Württemberg, which King Wilhelm I had built between 1820 and 1824 for his wife Katharina, who died young. Today it is the cooperative's emblem.
Style & Philosophy
Collegium Wirtemberg sees itself as a bridge between tradition and ambition. The range is divided into four clearly graded lines:
- Collegium – uncomplicated everyday wines that render variety and origin cleanly
- Stuttgart – wines from selected parcels around the Württemberg, with more concentration but retained freshness
- Wirtemberg – the house's premium idea: powerful, fruit-forward and yet elegant
- Réserve – the pinnacle, with long ageing in wooden casks
Stylistically that means: Trollinger remains what it should be – a light, juicy everyday red at under 12% ABV in the classic bottlings, with a pleasantly fine acidity. Lemberger, Spätburgunder and the blends of the upper lines, by contrast, are consistently vinified dry, often in barrique, and show dark fruit, spice and carrying tannin. Among the whites the house relies on dry, clearly drawn Rieslings as well as Grauburgunder and Chardonnay, which also see wood in the Réserve line.
Notable Sites & Wines
The heart of the business are the two single vineyards:
- Rotenberger Schlossberg – the site below the sepulchral chapel, the basis for Trollinger, Trollinger with Lemberger and Riesling
- Uhlbacher Götzenberg – warmth-favoured and sheltered, predestined for the late red varieties
Among the best-known wines are the Réserve bottlings of Lemberger, Syrah, Spätburgunder and Chardonnay, as well as the Grande Cuvée, a wood-aged red blend with a Mediterranean-seeming spice. Alongside these there is the Denkmal series and, with the Riesling 411 n. n., a wine whose name alludes to its altitude. The classic Trollinger mit Lemberger is to this day the wine through which many people in Stuttgart first get to know the house.
Awards
Collegium Wirtemberg has for years been among the highest-rated cooperatives in Germany. At the German Red Wine Prize 2023 the house reached the podium three times: second place in the Lemberger category for the 2019 Lemberger trocken "Réserve", and third places for the 2019 Grande Cuvée trocken "Réserve" and the 2019 Syrah trocken "Réserve". The trade magazine WEINWIRTSCHAFT listed the business as Germany's second-best growers' cooperative in 2023.
Things are going well internationally too: at awc vienna 2024 there were three gold and five silver medals, at the falstaff Spätburgunder Trophy 2025 93 points for the 2020 Spätburgunder Réserve, plus medals at the vinum Riesling Champion and Meiningers Rotweinpreis. In the wine guides vinum, falstaff and eichelmann the house is regularly praised for the breadth of its range – from the affordable Riesling to the spicy, complex Réserve wines.