Summary
Staatsweingut Freiburg is an estate with a dual mission: it is the working estate of the State Wine Institute Freiburg (Staatliches Weinbauinstitut) and thus the research, teaching and model estate of the state of Baden-Württemberg – and at the same time a VDP estate with Grand Cru sites on the Kaiserstuhl and right in Freiburg. Across around 37 hectares it produces Pinot-family wines of international calibre, Riesling from the gneiss of the Freiburger Schlossberg, sparkling wine and one of Germany's best-known collections of Piwi wines. Many of the fungus-resistant grape varieties now planted all over Europe were bred here at the wine institute. If you want to know what science tastes like, Freiburg has the answer.
History
The estate's roots lie on the Kaiserstuhl: between 1842 and 1844 the brothers Nikolaus, Adolph Friedrich and Jakob Wilhelm Blankenhorn acquired vineyards near Ihringen and founded the estate that still bears their name today – the Blankenhornsberg. In 1847 the wine business Gebrüder Blankenhorn followed, complete with a barrel cellar; at the Vienna World Exhibition of 1873 the wines won awards. The most influential figure was Adolph Blankenhorn, son of one of the founders: he used the estate as an experimental station for his research into viticulture and winemaking, was active in the fight against phylloxera and is regarded as a co-founder of German wine science.
After the First World War the family sold the estate in 1919 to the Baden Chamber of Agriculture, which ran it as a model farm. In 1933 the operation was nationalised; after the Second World War it passed to the state of Baden-Württemberg and was attached to the State Wine Institute Freiburg as its research and teaching estate. The institute itself had been founded in 1920, having grown out of a Baden vine-grafting station established in 1917. Ever since, institute and estate have formed one unit: research, training and wine production under one roof, owned by the state.
Location & Terroir
The roughly 37 hectares are spread across two very different sites. The larger part – about 24 hectares – lies on the Blankenhornsberg near Ihringen on the Kaiserstuhl, an extinct volcano in the Upper Rhine plain. Here the vines grow on weathered volcanic soils, partly overlaid with loess, on steep slopes of up to 50 percent gradient at 200 to 310 metres above sea level. The Kaiserstuhl is one of the warmest wine regions in Germany – the grapes develop an intense, full aroma here, balanced by the tension and acidity the mineral soils provide.
The second site is in the Breisgau: around 13 hectares in Freiburg and Ebringen. Its heart is the Freiburger Schlossberg, a south-facing steep slope directly above the old town, on weathered gneiss at 220 to 280 metres. The parcels are worked by hand, with no machinery. Higher up come the Jesuitenschloss and the Jägerhäusleweg at 280 to 370 metres – cooler sites on loam, clay and gneiss with gravel that deliver finesse and freshness. This span from volcano to gneiss, from warm to cool, is the estate's real capital.
Style & Philosophy
The state estate sees itself as ‘living science’: findings from the wine institute – on grape varieties, plant protection, soil care or cellar technology – are put into practice on the estate and thereby made visible to the whole industry. The ambition is to farm its unique sites sustainably and to serve as a role model. That includes sheep in the vineyards, reusable bottles and ECOVIN certification for the Piwi vineyards.
Stylistically the estate runs on two tracks. In the Erste and Grosse Lagen the wines are made in a classic, international style with a clear Burgundian influence: dense, complex Spätburgunder from volcanic soil, elegant Weißburgunder and Grauburgunder, Chardonnay and a mineral Riesling from the Schlossberg. In the estate-wine range things can be more modern and experimental – this is also where the Piwi varieties have their place.
The Piwi pioneers
The State Wine Institute is regarded as Europe's leader in breeding fungus-resistant grape varieties. Freiburg is the origin of white varieties such as Johanniter, Solaris, Muscaris, Souvignier gris, Bronner and Helios, and of red varieties such as Cabernet Carbon, Cabernet Cortis, Monarch and Prior. They need far less plant protection and are therefore a key to organic viticulture. The state estate's range includes Johanniter and Cabernet Carbon as single-varietal wines and Solaris as a nobly sweet speciality – wines that show Piwis have long been more than a research topic.
Notable Sites & Wines
The state estate farms several VDP.Grosse Lagen – a rarity in Baden:
- Blankenhornsberger Doktorgarten Winklen – VDP.Grosse Lage and monopole, weathered volcanic soil, 30 to 50 percent gradient; Spätburgunder, Chardonnay and Grauburgunder
- Blankenhornsberger Doktorgarten Kleintal – VDP.Grosse Lage and monopole, east-facing on dark mineral soil with loess; Weißburgunder
- Freiburger Schlossberg – VDP.Grosse Lage on gneiss, steep south-facing slope above the city; Riesling and Chardonnay, including the Riesling VDP.Grosses Gewächs
- Blankenhornsberger Doktorgarten – VDP.Erste Lage with 62 individual parcels; Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder and Spätburgunder, Muskateller, Auxerrois
- Freiburger Jesuitenschloss – VDP.Erste Lage at 280 to 370 metres; Spätburgunder and Grauburgunder
- Freiburger Jägerhäusleweg – VDP.Erste Lage, around one hectare of Auxerrois on gneiss with gravel – a rarity of only about 1,000 bottles a year
Add to that sparkling wines (VDP.Sekt), nobly sweet wines and alcohol-free alternatives – a range that covers the full spectrum between tradition and research.
Awards
The state estate's Grosse Gewächse are regularly singled out by Germany's leading wine guides: Gault&Millau attested to their first-rate quality, Falstaff praised the depth and playfulness of wines that show their origin with power but also with balance. Historically the success story reaches far back – to the awards at the World Exhibitions in Vienna in 1873 and Paris in 1878, where Adolph Blankenhorn won a gold medal. At least as important is the recognition the wine institute enjoys for its vine breeding: hardly any institution has shaped European Piwi viticulture as much as Freiburg.
