BURG RAVENSBURG & HEITLINGER: Double Legend?

By Stuart Pigott - last revision: 14.07.26

PART ONE: Becoming Famous Doesn't Make you a Legend!

Keller, Egon Müller-Scharzhof, Bernhard Huber... What makes a German winery legendary? Well, the same things that make a winery anywhere else on Planet Wine legendary: consistently high quality and stylistic consistency over a substantial period of time. And why didn’t I ask that question about fame? These day’s fame is two a penny, at least the 15 minute variety that Andy Warhol promised everybody. And how right he was, as the rapid social media comings and goings of cool young winemakers shows. Don’t get me wrong, per se I've got nothing against fame or coolness, much less charismatic youngsters. However, those things are no substitute for the basic requirements to become a wine legend.

Although they're not as famous as they deserve to be, I think the Double Winery of Burg Ravensburg and Heitlinger (BRH) in the North of Baden are on their way to becoming legendary. Let me explain. You see, the North of Baden - and here we are in the Kraichgau sub-region - may be uncool compared with the South, but the climate here is cooler and this gives the wines a very different, sleeker and more vividly aromatic profile than those from further south.

This and the 110 hectares of BRH vineyards - all of which are biodynamically cultivated with Demeter certification - gives the Double Winery substantial potential. Nearly all these holdings are large parcels, often 4-5 hectares a piece, and this creates the possibility of doing strict selective harvesting and still obtain some thousands of bottles of each wine. And that in turn creates the chance to distribute them nationally and internationally.

Potential and possibilities, just like chances, are only really of significant when these are actually realized, and it looks to me like this is now happening at BRH thanks to a trio of strong personalities at the top. The first of these is Claus Burmeister who’s been the winemaker/director here since 1996. Then, Patrick Jacklin of the owning family arrived in 2022 and set the Double Winery on it's present course. Finally, Richard Grosche parachuted in from the Wegeler wineries (in theRheingau and Mosel) some months back as marketeer in the widest sense of that word. Better still, this trio seem to get on really well with one another and clearly has a common goal.

On top of this, the style of the wines is modern without being self-consciously so, which I think guarantees gastro-compatibility. And the new Heitlinger Weinbar at the winery in Östringen-Tiefenbach underlines this in a stylishly contemporary manner. Excellent!

PART TWO: A Brief Diversion - The Truth About Wine Influencers

The only thing I’m not so sure about is how influencer-compatible all of this is. Wine influencer is the drug-of-choice for a many winemakers around Planet Wine, although they often begrudge the time, effort and money that high-maintenance influencers demand from them. They’d love to kick the habit, but deep down they can’t get over the feeling that somehow - nobody can really explain how - the influencers are advancing their progress on the long and winding road to fame and fortune. Of course, that conviction is sometimes stimulated by fluttering influencer eyelashes - fluttering like butterflies! Finally, I feel fame approaching!

Yes, that new wine bar would be the ideal backdrop for influencer postings, but I see no evidence that anybody at the Double Winery has been pursuing influencers. Instead, I see all the elements of the serious persuit of legendary status.

PART THREE: Soon to be Legendary Wines!

Anyone doubting the seriousness of the team's intentions is directed to the Pinot Noirs in the BRH range. To the notes below should be added that since 2012 they only planted selection massale of Pinot Noir, of which they now have fully 6 hectares of dense plantings. This is a huge investment in the production of high-end red wines from this grape. Much as I love the Riesling and Chardonnay GGs from the Double Winery, I think sophisticated Pinot Noir reds is the category with which Patrick Jacklin, Claus Burmeister and Richard Grosche are going to make waves. This is where the legend-building has already begun!

THE STANDOUT WINES

Burg Ravensburg  Baden  Riesling  Kapellenberg Eichelberg GG  2024 - 12% / It’s extraordinary how this dry Riesling marries ripe orange and apricot aromas with a terrific wet-stone freshness and has real power in spite of its modest alcoholic content. What a brilliant finish for a Baden wine! From a vineyard site with Stubensandstein sandstone soil. 95 (SP)

Heitlinger  Baden  Chardonnay  Heinberg GG  2024 - 13% /  Here’s once of the great new German Chardonnays that achieve the same kind of textural seductiveness as the great whites of Burgundy. I love the fine-grained tannins that support all this sensuality. Silk ‚n‘ chalk beauty at the fabulous finale. From a S-SW facing site with chalk-marl soil. 95 (SP)

Burg Ravensburg  Baden  Pinot Noir  Löchle GG  2022 - 12.5% / Proof that the North of Baden can make reds that rival the legendary ones from the South of the region! Stunning aromas of grilled meat, soy sauce and forest berries. Still very young with quite a compact structure, but the tannins are very fine. Great concentration and power for 12.5%. Enormously long finish. 96 (SP) 

Burg Ravensburg  Baden  Blaufränkisch  Dicker Franz Sulzfeld GG  2022 - 13% / A dark and mysterious Blaufränkisch with a great combination of savoury, liquorice and forest berry aromas. A touch more oak on the palate than the nose, but this lives up to the name of this site - Fat Franz - with its power and fleshiness. Long, compact, velvety finish with notes of bark and clove. 95 (SP)

25 wines tasted, six of which rated 95 or higher.