Summary
Weingut Ellermann-Spiegel in the southern Palatinate village of Kleinfischlingen is one of the most striking rise-to-prominence stories in recent Pfalz wine. Until the mid-2000s the family business delivered its wine almost entirely as bulk wine to cooperatives. Then Frank Spiegel – trained at Knipser and Münzberg, educated at Geisenheim – joined the business of his stepfather Harald Ellermann in 2007, gave the estate a new face with its double name, and from the 2008 vintage began bottling part of the harvest himself. Within a few years the wines were on the lists of ambitious restaurants and Michelin-starred kitchens. In the glass you will mostly find dry, clearly drawn whites from the Pinot family and Sauvignon Blanc, plus Riesling, Pinot Noir and a series of quirkily named cuvées.
History
The starting point was typical for many estates in the front Palatinate: the Ellermann family farmed a respectable area of vines in Kleinfischlingen by Pfalz standards, but sold the harvest almost entirely as bulk wine to cooperatives and merchants. Quality was barely visible that way – the wine disappeared anonymously into other people's bottles.
The break came with Frank Spiegel. After school he did a winemaking apprenticeship at two houses that stand for Palatinate top quality – Knipser and Münzberg – then studied viticulture and oenology at Geisenheim and gained practical experience in the Wachau, in Beaujolais and in Bordeaux. In 2007 he joined his stepfather's business. To make the change of course visible from the outside, Weingut Ellermann became Weingut Ellermann-Spiegel.
From the 2008 vintage a growing share of the harvest went into the estate's own bottles – at first the grapes from around ten hectares. Success came quickly: in the very first year Spiegel placed wines in several starred restaurants, and the wine guides took notice. The share of self-marketed wine has grown step by step ever since.
Location & Terroir
Kleinfischlingen lies in the southern Pfalz between Neustadt an der Weinstraße and Landau, a little east of the German Wine Route in the flatter lowland of the front Palatinate. With around 300 inhabitants it is one of the smallest wine villages in the region – a quiet place surrounded by vines, looking west to the Haardt hills and east far across the Rhine plain.
Climatically the estate benefits from one of the warmest and sunniest corners of Germany. The Palatinate Forest and the Haardt ridge shield the vineyards to the west and create a mild, comparatively dry climate in which even late-ripening varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon reliably come good.
The vineyards around Kleinfischlingen lie predominantly on the gentle loess hills south of the village. Loess and loam are the defining soil types: they store water well, give the wines body and a soft texture, and therefore play right into the hands of the Pinot varieties. This is precisely one of the estate's strengths – Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Chardonnay find ideal conditions on these soils.
Style & Philosophy
Frank Spiegel's approach is unpretentious and to the point: above all, a wine has to taste good. The estate puts it in its own motto, roughly “you have to enjoy it” – meaning wines that offer drinkability, clarity and freshness without asking a collector's price.
In practice that means careful vineyard work with reduced yields, selective picking, gentle handling and an ageing regime that does not smother the fruit. Most white wines are made dry and raised in stainless steel to preserve varietal aroma and the play of acidity. For the more ambitious wines – the gold-capsule bottlings, for instance – wood comes into play, but as a frame rather than the lead role.
Among the reds the estate covers a wide span: from juicy, uncomplicated everyday wines from Portugieser and St. Laurent to denser Pinot Noirs and cuvées with Cabernet Sauvignon. Characteristic are the quirky wine names with which the estate sets itself apart from classic label formality.
An estate with a taste for side roads
Part of the picture is a pleasure in experimenting. Alongside still wine and rosé, alcohol-free versions, special editions for individual merchants and even a vermouth based on Riesling have appeared over the years – the latter in collaboration with a Spanish wine importer. Such projects remain footnotes in the range, but they show nicely how the estate ticks: curious, hands-on and without undue reverence for convention.
Notable Sites & Wines
Unlike the big names of the Mittelhaardt, Ellermann-Spiegel markets its wines primarily by variety, style and cuvée name rather than by single vineyard site. The range pyramid is clearly tiered nonetheless:
- Estate and varietal wines – dry Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Riesling as the backbone of the programme
- Gold-capsule selections – selected lots with more density and more oak, among them the Spätburgunder
- Cuvées with names of their own – including reds such as Anno XVI, No Name and Simsalabim
- Rosé – for example the Windrosé, which shows the fresh, fruit-driven house style
The estate regards Weißburgunder as the quiet flagship variety of the Pfalz, and it is a good entry point if you want to get to know the style; Sauvignon Blanc is one of the estate's best-selling wines.
Awards
For such a young self-marketing project, recognition came remarkably fast. In 2015 the magazine Der Feinschmecker counted Frank Spiegel among Germany's best winemakers. The Gault&Millau Weinguide Deutschland took up the rising estate, and further ratings followed from Falstaff and Vinum. In 2017 a Spätburgunder from the gold-capsule line was honoured at the Meininger Rotweinpreis.
At least as telling as the scores is the presence on wine lists: soon after bottled sales began, the wines were served in several starred restaurants. Frank Spiegel has also been a member of the young-growers initiative Generation Riesling since 2009, and of the gastronomic society Chaîne des Rôtisseurs.