“WE EVEN PARTLY WORK THE SOIL BY HAND.”
MATTHIAS STUMPF SPEAKS ABOUT His WINES AND His WINE ESTATE IN FRICKENHAUSEN
Bickel-Stumpf
Kirchgasse 5
97252 Frickenhausen
Phone | +49 (0)9331/2847 |
---|---|
Fax | +49 (0)9331/7176 |
info@bickel-stumpf.de |
Office Hours
Montag 9.00 bis 13.00 Uhr Donnerstag, Freitag und Samstag 9.00 bis 17.00 Uhr Degustation und Verkauf außerhalb dieser Zeiten gerne auch nach Vereinbarung.Owner
Carmen, Reimund und Matthias Stumpf
Cellarmaster
Reimund & Matthias Stumpf
Member Since
1980
Wine Area
12,20 acres
Grape Variety
60% Silvaner, 15% Riesling, 10% Müller-Thurgau, 10% Spätburgunder as well as Scheurebe and Traminer
VDP: What is so special about your winery?
Matthias Stumpf: We are a small but outstanding family winery in the possession of top ancient vineyard sites, that are located between Thüngersheim and Frickenhausen, 35 km up the Main River. Two generations of vintners work together at our winery: Papa Reimund, Mama Carmen and me. We do everything together, much of it by hand and always with respect for nature.
VDP: What is your winery philosophy?
Matthias Stumpf: We love our origin. Respectful use of nature’s precious resources is therefore a matter of course for us; we do not need an organic label for this. We are members of Slow Food and are committed to agriculture that respects the environment, biodiversity and cultural identity. An important part of this is the manual work in the vineyard. We even partly work the soil by hand, especially in the VDP.ERSTE LAGE® and the VDP.GROSSE LAGE® vineyards. Vinification takes place in barrels made from Franconian wood.
VDP: To which wine style do you aspire?
Matthias Stumpf: Wines that express their origins. This can be seen particularly well in our Silvaners. A large part of Papa’s vineyards in Thüngersheim stand on the uppermost layers of Bunter sandstone and yield wonderfully delineated, mineral wines. Mama’s shell limestone terroir in Frickenhausen, which is over 200 million years old, produces wines with a slightly creamy texture that is sometimes intense and other times more light-footed.
VDP: Which of your wines would you recommend to someone who does not yet know your winery – as an introduction, so to speak?
Matthias Stumpf: Frickenhausen Silvaner Muschelkalk VDP.ORTSWEIN.
VDP: Of which wine are you particularly proud?
Matthias Stumpf: Of our VDP.GROSSE LAGE® MÖNCHSHOF Silvaner GG. It stems from a steep, meagre, stony shell limestone slope with a Mediterranean microclimate, which lends it Burgundian elegance.
MÖNCHSHOF
Silvaner GG
VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
“SILVANER IS SO FILIGREE THAT IT IS BEST INTERPRETED WHEN AS LITTLE RESIDUAL SUGAR AS POSSIBLE IS INVOLVED.”
VDP: Why did you become a vintner?
Matthias Stumpf: We were born here, left for a while and then came back. For us it is a joy, a tradition and an obligation, but also an opportunity to preserve the work of the generations before us.
VDP: Do you have role models?
Matthias Stumpf: Our grandparents.
VDP: What are your next goals?
Matthias Stumpf: We will continue to work on the consistency and depth of our Silvaner. We naturally want to preserve this small winery and pass it on to the next generation on an economically sound foundation.
VDP: How do you combine tradition and innovation?
Matthias Stumpf: If we consider a tradition to be meaningful, then we stick to it. For example, the traditional brand "Fränkisch trocken", which means less than 4 grams of residual sugar, is absolutely sensible for great Silvaner wines. Silvaner is so filigree that it is best interpreted when as little residual sugar as possible is involved. In principle, however, traditions are also always there to be questioned.