Patrick Reininghaus | DIE ZEIT | Ein deutsches Sektmärchen
“Der aktuell gefragteste Popstar in Deutschland: Das Sektgut Christmann und Kauffmann”
Stuart Pigott | James Suckling über die Cuvée No. 203
„You could easily mistake this with a seriouly good bottle of champagne.“
Jakob Strobel y Serra | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | Die Perlende Emanzipation
“Schon der Riesling aus dem ersten Jahrgang, schafft es, so vielschichtig und finessenreich wie ein großer Champagner zu sein und doch nichts mit ihm zu tun zu haben.“
„Wie man Deutschlands bestes Sektgut aufbaut."
Stephan Reinhardt | Rober Parker über den 2019er Gimmeldinger Biengarten
“It is a substantial, elegant, fresh and persistently salty, salivating sparkling Riesling.”
Nachlesewerk vergangener Pressestimmen
Das sagen die Presse, Meinungsmacher und Weinkritiker über uns.
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“Ein ganz neues Highlight stellt in dieser Hinsicht der 2021er Gimmeldinger Kapellenberg Spätburgunder Rosé Brut Nature vom Pfälzer Sekthaus Christmann & Kauffmann dar. Der lachsfarbene Sekt entfaltet ein tiefes, weiniges Bouquet von roten Früchten und Brioche, ist am Gaumen vollmundig, frisch und elegant, gut strukturiert und dank 42 Monaten auf der Hefe auch ausgewogen.”
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“Ein Betrieb, der das Prinzip Lagensekt direkt bei der Gründung in den Vordergrund gestellt hat, ist zugleich der aktuell gefragteste Popstar in Deutschland: das Sektgut Christmann & Kauffmann. Eine Kooperation zwischen einem der besten Weingüter Deutschlands (Sophie und Steffen Christmann vom Weingut Christmann) mit einem der bekanntesten Schaumweinmeister: Mathieu Kauffmann. 2019 gegründet, setzt es direkt auf den Ausdruck der Lagen und Riesling. Die ersten Lagensekte kommen erst in den nächsten Monaten auf den Markt, lange Reifedauer in der Flasche bedeutet auch lange Wartezeit für die Kunden. Doch erste Probeflaschen gingen in der Fachwelt bereits herum und versprechen Spannendes. Der Gimmeldinger Biengarten ist eine Lage in der Pfalz, nach Osten abfallende Terrassen am Waldrand, eine geschützte, etwas wärmere Lage, der Boden geprägt durch Kalkmergel. Wie schmeckt das? Salzig, druckvoll, karg. Und ja, es riecht und schmeckt kalkig und steinig. Die Wärme zeigt sich dagegen in den etwas reiferen Riesling-Aromen: Salzkaramell und Apfelmus.”
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Längst gibt es Winzersekte aus Champagner-Niveau. Doch das junge Gut Christmann & Kauffmann aus der Pfalz hat noch etwas ganz anderes vor. Gelingt es, haben wir nicht nur morgen Abend allen Grund zum Anstoßen.
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Steffen und Sophie Christmann sowie Mathieu Kauffmann sind drei der angesagtesten Weinmacher Deutschlands. Nun haben sie sich zusammengetan, um mit einem neuen Schaumwein die Champagne herauszufordern. Ein Lehrstück in fünf Akten.
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Das Pfälzer Sektgut Christmann & Kauffmann entstand durch einen Zufall – und steht heute beispielhaft für den Boom heimischer Top-Schaumweine.
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Das ambitionierte deutsche Schaumweinprojekt als “Champagner der Bundesrepublik” zu bezeichnen, wäre zwar naheliegend, aber falsch. Naheliegend, weil Sektmacher Mathieu Kauffmann ja mal Chef de Cave des Champagnerhauses Bollinger war, also verantwortlich für einige der renommiertesten Schaumweine der Welt. Falsch, weil es im Falle mit der Winzerfamilie Christmann initiierten Kooperation vor allem um Pfälzer Terroir geht. Und nicht zuletzt um Riesling. Die deutsche Prestigesorte darf hier beim Sekt zeigen, was sie kann, soll den hier erzeugten Cuvées aus Burgundersorten ebenbürtig sein. Champagner will weder der eine noch der andere Sekt kopieren. “Es gibt keinen Grund, dies zu tun”, betont Mathieu Kauffmann.
BEST OF
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At once dense yet delicate, silky yet highly structured, this remarkable sparkling wine is packed with candied citrus peel and bruised apple flavors. The creaminess from long lees contact beautifully rounds out the very long, bright finish. Disgorged in April 2025 after five years on the lees in bottle. No sulfites added. Drink from release.
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Extremely chalky and radically stony, this is a unique sparkling wine in any context. So much herbal and salty complexity on the very compact, medium-bodied palate. Incredible drive in the super-long finish. A pure riesling, although it doesn’t taste that way at all. Disgorged in April 2025 after four years on the lees in bottle. Drink from release.
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What an extraordinary texture this unique sparkling wine has. Creamy and silky but also slightly pithy, it doesn’t feel like Champagne on the bone dry, medium-bodied palate, but neither does it taste Germanic in any way. Very elegant in its highly individual way. The aroma of raspberry pastilles is no less striking. A cuvee of pinot noir and pinot blanc. Disgorged in April 2025 after four years on the lees in bottle. Drink from release.
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Often when sparkling rieslings are as citric as this they can be a bit hard, but this has terrific textural complexity on the sleek, chalky and creamy mediumbodied palate. Long, quite austere bonedry finish. A pure riesling, although it doesn’t taste that way at all. Disgorged in April 2025 after three years on the lees in the bottle. Drink or hold.
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Still extremely youthful, this bone-dry sparkling German wine needs plenty of aeration for the wide spectrum of candied citrus and brioche aromas to unfurl. Sleek, racy and focused, with amazing harmony for a barely medium-bodied sparkler with zero dosage. Very long, delicately chalky finish. This is a cuvee of 50% pinot noir, 25% chardonnay and 25% pinot blanc, all from the 2021 vintage. The base wines were wild-fermented in oak casks and the wine spent 31 months on the lees in bottle before disgorgement in November 2024. Drink or hold.
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Flinty and toasty nose with notes of pomelo and Asian pear. Light-bodied but well-structured on the sleek palate. Restrained pink grapefruit character, but lots of minerality. Very fine mousse at the complex, bone-dry finish. The base wine was wild-fermented in large neutral oak casks. Disgorged in November 2023 after 32 months on the lees in bottle. Still very young, this will age very well. Drink or hold.
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You could easily mistake this for a seriously good bottle of champagne. Complex dried pear and apple character with plenty of candied citrus. I love the delicately spicy character at the long and impeccably balanced finish. A cuvée of chardonnay, pinot blanc and pinot noir that was fermented in two-thirds large oak and one-third in stainless steel. 25 months on the lees in the bottle and disgorged in April 2023. Zero dosage. Drink or hold.
JAMES SUCKLING by Stuart Pigott
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The first release of this Riesling cuvée, the 2019 Ruppertsberger Reiterpfad Brut Nature comes from 14-year-old vines on the rubble soils of this east/southeast site that were harvested in early September, vinified in traditional oak casks and bottled in May 2020. This almost golden-yellow colored fizz displays a clear, elegant and mature yet complex and mineral-fresh nose of bread and brioche aromas as well as aromatically ripe Riesling berries that are also reminiscent of slightly oxidized apple compote and walnuts. The wine is mouthfillingly round and almost sweet, eventhough it was disgorged without dosage in April 2025after 60 months sur lattes. It is the textural complexity and finesse that makes this an excellent Riesling fizz, which already shows more tertiary aromas rather than primary ones yet without losing any ofits terroir-driven freshness and soul. This six-year-old wine is mouthfilling, intense and saline, developing a long and persistently structured finish and a long, layered aftertaste. 12% stated alcohol.
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“From an east/southeast exposure on tertiary limestone soil and spontaneously aged in wood until June 2021, the Riesling 2020 Gimmeldinger Biengarten Brut Nature was disgorged in April 2025 after 46 months sur lattes. This straw-yellow Palatinate sparkling wine displays a generous bouquet of mature Riesling, characterized by longlees aging, along with hazelnut and brioche aromas and subtle notes of salt crystals and chalk. The wine is mouthfilling, elegant and smooth yet also fresh and long-lasting, with a salty texture and fine citrus freshness on the finish, which is also reminiscent of salted caramel and apple compote. The 2020 Biengarten is beautiful, balanced and elegant yet also a flavorful food wine with fine bubbles and stimulating finesse on the long and complex finish. It's excellent.”
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The 2020 Königsbacher Heidböhl Brut Nature is a fascinatingly pure, fresh and mineral-scented Pinot Noir/Pinot Blanc blend from a south/southeast site with gravel and sandstone soils. Picked in later September, aged in oak and bottled in June 2021, this is a flavorful, round and textured, remarkably soft and delicate sparkling wine with ripe, some what tropical fruit aromas intermingled with yeasty and saline notes toward the savory, finely grippy, sapid finish. The acidity is filigreed and the mousse delicate like a soufflé. The wine was disgorged in April 2025 after46 months sur lattes. 11.5% stated alcohol.
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Disgorged in April 2025 after 35 months sur lattes, the NV Cuvée No. 104 Brut Nature is a beautifully pure, savory and yeasty Riesling sparkling wine vinified in large oak and selected in Königsbach (on limestone) and Gimmeldingen (sandstone) in late September 2021. The wine is linear, elegant and finely textured aswell as fruity. It is a simply delicious sparkling Riesling with almost smooth acidity and reveals its vivid nature only on the stimulatingly saline and grippy finish. This is an excellent aperitif that can also be enjoyed with oysters, rawfish and goat cheese. 12% stated alcohol.
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The NV Brut Nature Cuvée No. 204 is an assemblage of spontaneously fermented Pinot Noir (50%), Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc (each 25%) sourced from top sites of the villages of Gimmeldingen, Königsbach and Ruppertsberg (limestone and sandstone soils) in September 2021. Vinified in oak, bottled in May of 2022 and disgorged after 31 months sur lattes in November 2024, the Cuvée 204 opens with a beautifully pure yet intense and elegant bouquet that plays well with reductive (yeasty) and oxidative (fruit) and features ripe or stewed apple and pear aromas intermingled with iodine and lemon notes. Elegant, fresh and refined on the palate, this is a light, lean and quite citric sparkling wine from a vintage that nowadays has an unusually rainy and coolish summer. The mousse is remarkably refined and gentle, and the saline finish reveals fine bread favors. This is probably the finest, lightest and most delicate cuvée of the young 200 series so far. I'd serve it with sardines in oil. 12% stated alcohol. Tasted in February 2025.
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Released at the end of 2024 after 45 months sur lattes, the 2019 Gimmeldinger Biengarten Brut Nature offers ripe, dense and intense fruit intermingled with iodine and warm brioche notes that gives this sparkling wine fullness and intensity, but it does not mask its mineral finesse. Enhanced by the small wooden barrel, the delicate oxidation is vaguely reminiscent of Jura wines and also marries, in a fascinating way, with the more reductive mineral notes of the limestone marl (terra fusca), reminiscent of iodized salt. On the palate, the fine interplay of oxidation and reduction is even intensified. This sparkling wine is even reminiscent of Sherry at first, but then becomes more mouth-filling, fruity and finally Riesling. It is a substantial, elegant, fresh and persistently salty, salivating sparkling Riesling from vines planted in 1982 and 2012 on an east/southeast-facing, well protected and thus warmer slope of only 10% at an altitude of 155 to 2020 meters. The Riesling is mouth-filling but fresh and lean, almost citrusy and light-footed toward the finish. This is an excellent sparkling wine to pair with poultry or fish. 442 bottles made. 12.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in December 2024.
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The 2019 Königsbacher Heidböhl Brut Nature is another fascinating sparkling wine from the estate of Sophie and Steffen Christmann and the Alsatian Mathieu Kauffmann in Gimmeldingen. From Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc vines around 25 years old on terraced gravel with red sandstone and matured in wooden barrels until bottling in June 2020, this yellow-gold sparkling wine also displays a seductively open, slightly oxidative and salty nose of ripe, elegant fruit (harvest date: 6 September 2019). After 45 months sur lattes, the sparkling wine was disgorged in March 2024 and has only recently been marketed. It is a very dry, almost ascetic, light and austere sparkling wine without the texture and fruit of the Riesling from the Biengarten, yet with its mineral purity and reduced style, it goes perfectly with raw fish dishes. It is also recommended as an aperitif thanks to its extremely salty and fresh, slender style. 541 bottles made. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in December 2024.
Published 24/07/2023 -
To be released in May, NV Cuvée No. 103 Brut Nature is based on Riesling from 15- to 35-year-old vines rooting in the sandstone and limestone soils of Gimmeldingen and Königsbach top vineyards. Picked between the end of August and early September 2020 and bottled in April 2021, the wine was aged sur lattes for 32 months until the disgorgement last year. The white-golden colored sparkling wine shows a deep and intense but also delicate bouquet of ripe and juicy white and yellow fruits intermingled with delicate brioche as well as lemony, flinty and iodine notes. Pure, refined and intense on the palate, this is a light to medium-bodied, bone dry and thus lean but textured and stimulating saline Riesling Sekt with a refreshing dash of lemon juice on the stimulating aftertaste. This wine is light and pure yet seriously structured and should come very well with starters and fish. 11.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in February 2024.
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The NV Brut Nature Cuvée No. 203 is the third edition of this assemblage of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir from cooler calcareous sandstone and loess sites in Gimmeldingen and Königsbach. Picked in the last week of August 2020 after a beautifully sunny summer (with rain at the right time), vinified in oak (70%) and stainless steel (30%), bottled in April of the following year and aged sur lattes for nearly 25 months prior to the disgorgement in April this year, the wine opens with a deep, pure, fine yet also intense and charming bouquet of ripe white seed fruits, iodine, nuts and lemon juice. Pure and fruity on the palate, this is a stimulating, saline, round and fruity sparkling wine with remarkable finesse and mouthfeel. Developing a dry but textural finish, this is an excellent mix of reductive and oxidative elements, which makes Cuvée No. 203 a superb gastronomic sparkling wine to have with a meal, in particular with dishes with fresh mushrooms or scallops. 12% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in November 2023.
ROBERT PARKER by Stephan Reinhardt
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Christmann & Kauffmann's long-anticipated Sekt, some of whose limited-release subscriptions sold out in under 10 minutes, is the brainchild of an exceptionally talented trifecta: Sophie and Steffen Christmann of their family's Pfalz estate and Alsace-born Mathieu Kauffmann, Bollinger's former chef de cave.
Kauffmann is often credited with being the catalyst to help transform Sekt from a dirty word into a modern revival of something Germany can be proud of. He left Champagne initially to help the late Achim Niederberger transform the sparkling wines of historic Pfalz estate Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl into the best Germany had to offer. Although the Sekt stage had been set by a few brave pioneers a decade earlier, with his extensive experience, renown, and professed love of Riesling, it looked as though Kauffmann would take things an exciting stage further at von Buhl.
But things didn't go according to plan. Shortly before Kauffmann arrived at the Pfalz estate, Niederberger died unexpectedly. And while Kauffmann's skill and insights did go on to garner considerable praise for his relatively austere von Buhl Sekts, reserves in the estate's cellar and differences in management and wine styles led to a parting of ways just six years later. So when biodynamic vintner Steffen Christmann unexpectedly called in the summer of 2019, Kauffmann was available.
That summer the Christmanns, father and daughter, had been given the opportunity to acquire 12 ha (30 acres) of phenomenal vineyards around their base in Gimmeldingen. These vines would deliver 90 tons of excellent fruit with only a few weeks to go before the 2019 harvest. It was too good an opportunity to refuse; they just needed to find a home for the grapes in the short term. And so, Sektgut Christmann & Kauffmann was born. Three years later, almost to the day, they were ready to launch their first few bottles of Sekt.
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JANCIS ROBINSON by Paula Sidore