Summary
Weingut Martin Waßmer in Bad Krozingen-Schlatt is one of the most remarkable success stories in German wine of recent decades. Founded in 1997, the estate today ranks among the leading addresses for Pinot Noir from Baden. Across around 40 hectares – roughly 60% of them planted to red varieties – it makes wines conceived in thoroughly Burgundian terms: spontaneously fermented in open wooden vats, long on the skins, up to 18 months in barriques from French coopers. Many parcels are more than 40 years old and lie on dry-stone-walled steep slopes at the Burgundian Gate, the gap between the Black Forest and the Vosges that gives Baden its particular climate.
History
Unlike most of the big names in German wine, Martin Waßmer cannot point to centuries of family tradition. The estate in its present form came into being in 1997 – a very recent date for a producer of this standing.
The Waßmer family had previously been active in wine and fruit growing in the Markgräflerland; Martin Waßmer turned that into an independent operation aimed uncompromisingly at quality. His brother Fritz Waßmer runs a second, separate estate – a constellation that regularly causes confusion, even though the two work independently of each other.
The rise was rapid. Waßmer deliberately bought and leased old parcels on steep slopes that others considered too laborious to farm, and invested in the cellar. In 2016 a new press and cellar house opened, which is what made the hands-on approach – gentle handling, gravity instead of pumps, plenty of wood – possible in this degree of consistency.
Location & Terroir
The Markgräflerland lies in the far south-west of Germany, between Freiburg and Basel, within sight of France and Switzerland. Decisive here is the Burgundian Gate: the depression between the Black Forest and the Vosges through which mild air flows northwards into Baden. That makes the region one of the warmest wine areas in Germany – the precondition for Pinot Noir ripening reliably here.
The estate's home site is the Schlatter Maltesergarten, with deep, loamy loess soil and a high chalk content – a combination that gives the Pinot family both power and structure. Beyond that, Waßmer farms parcels in some of Baden's best sites, from the Dottinger Castellberg and Staufener Schlossberg through the Ehrenstetter Ölberg and the Auggener Letten to the Achkarrer Schlossberg in the volcanic Kaiserstuhl and the Glottertäler Roter Bur. Many of these parcels are terraced and held by dry stone walls – viticulture that can only be managed with a high share of handwork.
Style & Philosophy
The estate's signature is unmistakably Burgundian in inspiration, without denying its Baden character.
In the vineyard that begins with a planting density unusual for Germany, at 10,000 to 12,000 vines per hectare. The vines compete more strongly for water and nutrients, root more deeply and deliver smaller, more concentrated berries. Yields average around 40 hectolitres per hectare – well below what would be permitted. Picking is by hand, with careful selection.
In the cellar the Pinot Noir is fermented spontaneously with its own yeasts in open wooden vats, given a long maceration and then aged for up to 18 months in barrique; the barrels come from renowned Burgundian coopers. The result is red wine with depth, fine-grained tannin and ageing potential rather than upfront fruit.
The same standard applies to the whites: Weißburgunder and Chardonnay are given texture and wood, while Gutedel – the traditional variety of the Markgräflerland – is deliberately kept light, fresh and uncomplicated.
Famous Vineyards & Wines
The range is tiered classically, from estate wines through village wines to single-vineyard bottlings from the best parcels. Among the defining sites and wines are:
- Schlatter Maltesergarten – the estate's home site, loess over chalk
- Dottinger Castellberg – one of the most renowned sites in the Markgräflerland
- Staufener Schlossberg and Ehrenstetter Ölberg
- Auggener Letten in the southern Markgräflerland
- Achkarrer Schlossberg in the volcanic Kaiserstuhl
- Glottertäler Roter Bur in the Glotter valley
- Plus Spätburgunder across several quality levels as well as Weißburgunder, Chardonnay and Gutedel
Awards
Martin Waßmer is regularly listed among the country's best Pinot Noir producers in the leading German wine guides and in the international trade press. What is remarkable is less any individual score than the speed of it: an estate founded in 1997 that has pushed into this league in under three decades, without an association membership and without a historic name, has shown one thing above all – in Baden it is the site and the work in the vineyard that count, not the length of the family tradition.