Location and History
The Bernhard Huber winery is located in Malterdingen in the wine-growing region Baden in Germany. In Malterdingen, viticulture has been documented for more than 700 years. Records of the VDP link the cultivation of Spätburgunder there in the 14th century with Cistercian monks from Burgundy.
Vineyard Sites and Soils
The winery cultivates around 28 hectares of vineyard land. Roughly 70 percent is devoted to Spätburgunder, 15 percent to Chardonnay, and 7 percent each to Weißer Burgunder and Grauer Burgunder, as well as 1 percent to other varieties. As the most important geological parent material, the winery cites weathered Muschelkalk.
Bienenberg
The Bienenberg is classified for Chardonnay and Spätburgunder and is managed by the VDP together with the Bienenberg Wildenstein as VDP.GROSSE LAGE. The site rises steeply from the Rhine plain to around 200 to 280 metres and has slopes of around 20 to 40 percent. Its exposure ranges from south to south-west towards the west; parts of the vineyard are terraced. Alongside weathered Muschelkalk, loess is present, while deposits of iron give the soil, in parts, yellowish to reddish colouring.
Winemaking and Orientation
The winery has been a member of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter since 1995 and is in biological conversion. It aims to produce dry wines with a character of origin and favours Spätburgunder and Chardonnay. For red wines, traditional tank fermentation on skins is used; afterwards they mature for up to 18 months in barriques. The wines are fermented to dryness and are developed on the lees for a longer period. Bottle-fermented Pinot sparkling wines mature on the lees for two to ten years after the second fermentation.
