Summary
Weinmanufaktur Gengenbach-Offenburg is a wine cooperative in the Ortenau, the northern heartland of the Baden wine region. Its home base is in Gengenbach at the mouth of the Kinzig valley, with a second centre of gravity in the Offenburg wine villages of Zell-Weierbach and Fessenbach. The business grew out of a cooperative founded in 1951 that expanded through several mergers and adopted its present double name in 2016. Around 250 hectares are farmed by the member families in small parcels, most of it by hand. In the glass the Ortenau classics dominate: Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), Riesling – traditionally called Klingelberger here – as well as Grauburgunder and Müller-Thurgau.
History
Winegrowing in this corner of the Ortenau is ancient. As early evidence the producer cites a charter of donation from the year 888, in which Empress Richardis granted the wine tithe to the Benedictine monastery in Gengenbach. For centuries monasteries and later small family holdings shaped the slopes between the Kinzig valley and the Rhine plain – with the typical Ortenau layout: many growers, each with only a few parcels.
It was precisely this fragmentation that led to the cooperative idea in the 20th century. In 1951 growers of the lower Kinzig valley joined forces in Gengenbach to press, mature and market their wine together – tradition speaks of a founding group of around 50 holdings. The cellar on the edge of town was extended over the decades and remains the home base to this day.
The road to the merger
As in many German wine regions, consolidation set in from the 2000s onwards: smaller cooperatives could no longer find successors for their cellars and looked for partners. In 2012 the Zell-Weierbach cooperative came under the Gengenbach roof, followed in 2014 by the cooperative in Fessenbach. Because the old company name no longer reflected this new reach, in 2016 the group adopted its present name, Weinmanufaktur Gengenbach-Offenburg eG – a name that mentions both wine landscapes and, with the word Manufaktur, underlines its commitment to handwork.
Figures for size and membership vary: depending on the source and reference year, you will read of around 200 to 285 hectares and roughly 100 to 370 grower families. The most widely quoted order of magnitude is around 250 hectares and around 300 families; as everywhere in German steep-slope viticulture, the trend points downwards.
Location & Terroir
The Ortenau runs as a narrow band along the foot of the Black Forest, between Baden-Baden in the north and the area around Lahr in the south. It is regarded as the part of Baden with the clearest mountain profile: the vines stand on partly steep slopes facing west and south, forest behind them and the wide Rhine plain in front. The climate is mild and sunny, yet the nights are cooler than down on the plain thanks to the altitude – good for freshness and acidity in the wine.
The soils are decisive. On the slopes, weathered granite and gneiss dominate, producing light, spicy and markedly mineral wines and traditionally regarded as the ideal base for Riesling. In the lower zones and at the foot of the slopes lie loess and loam soils, on which the Pinot family turns out fuller and softer. The cooperative farms two different landscapes: the narrower, cooler slopes at the mouth of the Kinzig valley around Gengenbach, and the broadly west-facing vineyards above Offenburg.
Style & Philosophy
A cooperative has to manage two things at once: dependable everyday wines in volume, and top wines that carry the region's name. The range is tiered accordingly – from uncomplicated litre wines through estate and village wines up to single-site and selection wines matured in wood.
Handwork here is not a marketing word: according to the producer, more than 90 percent of the grapes are picked by hand, which in the small-parcel, often steep Ortenau slopes is hardly possible any other way. The ambition to make wines “with heart and hand” is already contained in the word Manufaktur. Sustainability plays a large part in how the business presents itself, as does the vegan production of the entire range and dedicated lines that emphasise fair grape prices for the members.
Stylistically the cooperative stays true to the Ortenau canon: Klingelberger – the local name for Riesling since the 18th century, after the Klingelberg near Durbach – as a taut, acid-driven white from weathered granite; Grauburgunder and Ruländer as richer, creamier counterparts; Müller-Thurgau as a light everyday wine; and Spätburgunder across the whole Baden spectrum, from pale Weißherbst through rosé to dense red matured in wood.
Notable Sites & Wines
The group brings together grapes from several well-known sites of the southern Ortenau. Among them are:
- Zeller Abtsberg – the core site above the Offenburg district of Zell-Weierbach, with its own wine shop at the foot of the hill
- Fessenbacher Bergle – steep slopes above Fessenbach
- Offenburger Kirchherrenberg – vineyards within the city limits of Offenburg
- Ortenberger Freudental – a well-known site around Ortenberg with its castle
- Vineyards in the lower Kinzig valley around Gengenbach
Stylistically you will find the whole Ortenau repertoire there: Klingelberger and Riesling as flagships, Grauburgunder with texture, Spätburgunder from light to powerful, plus rosé, Weißherbst, sparkling wine and Secco.
Awards
Weinmanufaktur Gengenbach-Offenburg is among the regularly decorated producers of Baden. It has been reported, among other things, that the business was named best wine estate of the Ortenau in 2018; at the AWC Vienna, one of the largest international wine competitions, it is listed as a two-star producer and regularly collects gold and silver medals there. Its predecessor businesses were successful too: the Zell-Weierbach cooperative, which joined in 2012, received the Bundesehrenpreis in gold in 2004 – the highest distinction of the national wine awards, which honours not a single wine but the quality of the entire range.