Frank John

Frank and Gerlinde John, neither of them from wine families, founded their bijou estate in 2003 and built it on biodynamic principles from the start with just three hectares. John remembers that they had just one barrique of Pinot Noir and one Stück of Riesling in their first harvest – but they were determined to vinify in oak only and have done so ever since. The concept was clear: “Biodynamic, only wood, only spontaneous ferments, malolactic fermentation and no filtration.” Frank John had been the cellar master at Heyl zu Herrnsheim in Nierstein and at Reichsrat von Buhl in Deidesheim from 1992 to 2002. At both estates, he started the traditional method Sekt programs well ahead of his time, laying down Rieslingsekt from the Forster Pechstein for 60 months on lees. John says that his love for Sekt is the combination of his twin passions: the technical precision of engineering and process and his love for nature. Production is split into 50% Sekt, 50% still wine. The Sekts will be tasted separately. By now they have ten hectares, with six in production, the remaining four were just planted in Königsbach, Kallstadt and Neustadt. All the estate’s vineyards are planted to John’s own massal selections that he collected and developed over the past 30 to 40 years. “We are a clone-free estate,” says John, simply because they do not want high-yielding clones on vigorous rootstocks. Whenever they were able to buy a parcel, they grubbed up the vines, allowed the site to lay fallow for a year and then planted their own selection, at a minimum density of 7,000 vines/ha and often up to 9,000. The recent expansion is due to both their children joining the estate: son Sebastian studied environmental sciences in the Netherlands and followed this with a master in organic agronomy with a focus on viticulture. He has been on board the estate for the past three years. Daughter Dorothea studied international wine marketing in Geisenheim and is now completing her master’s degree in organic agronomy. Their plantings today are 70% Riesling, 25% Pinot Noir and 5% Chardonnay. During my visit, I tasted the still wines Pinot Noir and Riesling, from 2020 and 2021. Releases are delayed and their current vintage is 2021. John reports that despite the warm 2020 vintage, they managed good acidity levels and had a “lovely harvest, with ripe grapes, good acidity – it all went well.” And while he notes that 2021 was a nail-biting affair for many, “we had lovely ripeness. We finished before the really bad weather arrived, we did not have peronospora, for us 2021 was a good year, with contrasts with the region as a whole.” Each year they make just one still Riesling and Pinot Noir, the rest of production is Sekt. Pinot Noir is destemmed but not crushed to prompt an initial intra-cellular fermentation. Malolactic fermentation happens in 500-liter barrels and barriques are only used to accommodate their small quantities of wine, supplemented by glass balloons. Riesling is also fermented spontaneously in wood, sometimes with the addition of whole berries. When the newly planted vineyards come on stream, we can look forward to village wines from Kallstadt and Königsbach, an Erste Lage from the Kallstadter Steinacker and a Grosse Lage from the Königsbacher Idig – they expect their first harvest in 2025. “Pure and unadulterated wine, that is our calling card,” John says. I must agree, the range may be small but the wines are exquisite.