VDP.WEINGUT
KAUFMANN

VDP: What is so special about your winery?

Urban Kaufmann: We are the exotic ones among the traditional Rheingau wineries. Me, as a Swiss master cheesemaker, and my wife, as a Franken native who used to be the managing director of the VDP. We dared a new beginning in our lives with a beautiful winery in the Rheingau. Beyond the fact that good cheese and good wine generally go well together, we have quite an unusual story!

A lot of fate, coincidence and happiness brought Eva and me together. Our ideas of making wine fortunately harmonize as well as our being together. We live and work sustainably; our wines are certified organic and biodynamic. As a small reminiscence of my homeland and my professional past, we regularly offer wine tastings with an original Swiss-style cheese fondue. You are cordially invited to join us!

VDP: What is your winery philosophy?

Urban Kaufmann: Rheingau wine in Swiss perfection. We concentrate on the essentials, are straightforward, puristic, modern - and do everything with a lot of joy and heart.

VDP: For what wine style do you strive?

Urban Kaufmann: Our wine should be easy to understand and yet complex. It should have clear fruit expression and be dry with animating acidity.

VDP: Do you have a favourite grape variety?

Urban Kaufmann: Pinot Noir and Riesling.

VDP:Which of your wines would you recommend to someone who doesn’t yet know your winery – as an introduction, so to speak?

Urban Kaufmann: Our highly popular Tell Riesling.

VDP: Of which wine are you particularly proud?

Urban Kaufmann: Of our 2016 VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS^®  HASSEL Pinot Noir GG - according to the Eichelmann guide, the best Pinot Noir of Rheingau!

VDP: Why did you become a vintner?

Urban Kaufmann: As hinted, it’s a true love story – a love for wine and for my wife. After success with making cheese, I was looking for a winery – and a partner in 2012. I was 40 and had always worked incessantly, and that out in the country. That’s a hard way to find the right one! Through all kinds of happy circumstances, I met Eva and with time a deep connection and love developed between us, which found a happy end here at our own winery. As a new winemaker, it was an advantage for me that I had experience making cheese. I continued with the same accuracy and precision in the wine cellar. However, among other things, I was also able to learn that the fermentation temperature of wine does not depend on half a degree. Hans Lang helped me with this. He was the owner of the winery for many years and supported and advised me in my first year in the Rheingau.

VDP: Do you have any role models?

Urban Kaufmann: All the top winegrowers in the world whose divine drinks I enjoyed so much as a private wine lover. I always wanted to be one of them.

VDP: What are your next goals?

Urban Kaufmann: Highest scores in the trusted wine guides.

VDP: How do you combine tradition and innovation?

Urban Kaufmann: We concentrate on the traditional grape varieties of the Rheingau, Riesling and Spätburgunder, which we call Pinot Noir. In biodynamic viticulture we deal with the old farmers’ wisdom, which often has to do with cosmic cycles and with the healing powers of natural plant teas and preparations. It’s very exciting!