It’s obvious that cellarmaster Andreas Philipp loves his Chasselas, otherwise he couldn’t call himself a Markgraefler, a man true to his winegrowing region. But that doesn’t mean his Pinot varietals are any less delicious: the reds, the rosés, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc.

A proud 45 hectares of a total of 300 hectares are planted with Pinot Noir grapes, another 30 hectares with Pinot Blanc. That’s 25%. The most important vineyard, which consists of calcareous slate soils, is called Schaef. The name is derived from “Schaerfling,” a word in southern German dialect which means “chalky slate”. “The chalky soils impart a more international character on the wines. After all, France is not far away,” explains Andreas Phillipp. The Pinot Noir wines: velvety nose with delicate cherries and tannins, ripe, full-bodied with a richly warm finish.

Second in popularity to Chasselas, and deeply rooted in regional tradition, is the Pinot Blanc grape. “We only plant the Pinot Blanc grapes in the best vineyards. This gives the wines their fullness. This and the relatively high levels of precipitation and the retaining capacity of the Black Forest lend the wines a fine acidic structure and elegance,” says Phillipp about the Pinot Blancs.

Wines in vogue: cold fermentation, elegant, racy, fresh, yet mellower than Riesling. That’s the Chasselas from Auggen, which cover more than 50% of the vineyards. Phillipp has consciously moved away from the traditional Chasselas style of wines.

Ecologically friendly, sustainable viticulture is taken very seriously in Auggen. Only organic pesticide methods are used. All herbicides are completely taboo. The vineyards have permanent green cover and are mowed and mulched, even under the vines and on the steepest slopes, although this often means more manual labor. There are many young vintners who belong to the co-op, who all stand behind the principles. Together the group offers a large array of wines, including luscious Chardonnay, Regent, Sauvignon Blanc, Selection wines (a German wine classification similar to Reserve wines in other countries) and high quality dessert wines. They are praised in the Gault Millau Wine Guide and have earned 1 ½ stars in Eichelmann’s Wine Guide. Read more at www.auggener-wein.de