Burg Ravensburg
Burg Ravensburg's founding year makes the reader rub their eyes. There are entries in the registers as early as 1251! The winery located above the Kraichgau in Sulzfeld in North Baden has a history of up to 770 years, and wine has been cultivated in the area for a couple of thousand years. Despite the rustling of history's wings, Gault Millau recently gave Burg Ravensburg the title of Pioneer of Organic Viticulture 2022. Pioneeriasema's status has been given, among other things, due to the drones used to support garden work and its participation in NFT technology. With the help of drones, vines in steep nurseries can be protected by spraying the necessary substances allowed in organic and biodynamic nurseries right after the rains, when the soil in nurseries would still be too wet to be moved by machines. With the help of drones, excessive compression of the soil in the nurseries is also avoided, which helps especially against the erosion of steep nurseries and helps in maintaining the biodiversity of the soil.
Claus Burmeister is both the farm's chief winemaker and managing director, so hands are alternately immersed in the soil of the orchards, in the grapes of the tanks, like in piles of paper. The farm owns 38 hectares of vineyards, which have been managed with organic methods since 2012. The vineyards are currently being converted to biodynamic viticulture certified by Demeter. The farm already produces its own compost and works in the garden according to the lunar calendar. In addition to Riesling, Burgundian varieties, Weissburgunder, Grauburgunder, Pinot Noir and Blaufränkisch grow in the orchards. Riesling has been cultivated in Baden since 1782, when Freiherr Göler von Ravensburg planted the first vines he received near his castle.
The orchards of the farm located on the east side of the Rhine enjoy the sun a little more than the Palatinate. The soil in the farm's paddocks is very old, up to 160-220 million years old limestone, whereas elsewhere in Baden, the paddocks are mainly loess and volcanic soil. Harvesting is done by hand, and the wines are fermented with their natural yeast strains. Burg Ravensburg's sister estate, Heitlinger, founded in 1960, is also run by Claus Burmeister, and together they are one of Germany's largest family-owned wineries.
The farm's total annual production is 300,000 bottles. The producer has an organic certificate.
