Popping Corks: The Second Vinous Sekt Report

BY ANNE KREBIEHL, MW | MAY 6, 2025

The renaissance of German and Austrian Sekt continues apace. After last year’s paean to the revival of bottle-fermented Sekt in both countries, this is the second report on all things German-speaking and bottle-fermented. The wines in this report again hail from Austria—Niederösterreich, Vienna, Burgenland and Steiermark—and 12 of Germany’s 13 growing regions.

Aspiration and Reality

Clear ambition is apparent in both countries, as is growing awareness of the trend that is fine Sekt. But it is also clear that only a handful of players know how to achieve the highest level of quality. Long lees-aging alone does not make a fine Sekt, nor does single-site provenance. It takes more than that, namely farming specifically for Sekt base wine in terms of yield and ripeness parameters, choosing the right picking date, pressing carefully and separating press fractions. No matter what style of Sekt winemakers are aiming to produce, these cornerstones are non-negotiable. Many still get it wrong, but more and more are on the right path—newcomers as well as more established players who are fine-tuning every year. For this year’s report, for instance, I reviewed the Sekts of Felix Keller (son of Klaus Peter Keller), as well as the new Blanc de Noirs from Gunderloch and AdamsWein, winemakers from Rheinhessen who craft excellent still wines but are well aware that making Sekt is a different game altogether.

Keller: Just One Example of Serious Intent

Felix Keller is a perfect embodiment of Germany’s new Sektmaker generation. He trained at Reichsrat von Buhl in the Pfalz. At the time, then-Technical Director Mathieu Kauffmann (former chef de cave at Champagne Bollinger) was  tasked with making fine Sekt. [As an aside, some of the Sekts Kauffmann made during this period were finally disgorged and released by Reichsrat von Buhl and submitted for review.) Felix Keller says, “It was Mathieu who inspired me first.” This spurred Keller to train in Champagne, where he worked with the Bérèche brothers in Montagne de Reims. “This is why I have been making Sekt at home since 2018,” Keller adds, starting with just 200 bottles. Klaus Peter Keller was happy for his son to make Sekt at the home estate but insisted it should be done “properly,” explaining, “We decided to go to the Zellertal, at higher altitude with active lime in the soil. There, we decided rigorously which parcels were to be dedicated to Sekt and which to still wine, with one exception. When we see that Riesling has great Strahlkraft [radiance] and acidity, say in the Abtserde or Schubertslay, we may make an exception and bottle some Sekt base.” Felix Keller continues, “We said from the start that we only would make Sekt from top sites, from Grosse Lagen in the Zellertal.” Father and son intend to bottle single-site Sekts in “great years” while having also maintaining a constant multi-vintage, site-blended Grande Cuvée. The Kellers have already increased production to 2,500 bottles with the plan to scale up to 10,000 bottles a year, and they continue to build up their reserves. New plots dedicated to Sekt are planted at very high densities with newly developed rootstocks. “We [the family] were all convinced of this new project, but the expertise and feel for Sekt is with Felix,” says Klaus Peter Keller. Sekt-lovers have much to look forward to. While latitudes are only one aspect of many that define climate, Readers should note that Zellertal, at 49.64° is further north than Avize (48.97°N), Ludes (49.15°N) and Reims (49.25°N), albeit with less Atlantic influence. A quick glance over to Austria shows that Langenlois in the Kamptal lies at 48.47°N and Poysdorf in the Weinviertel at 48.66°N, while Les Riceys, deep in the Côte des Bar, is at 47.99°N.