For the Schäfer family from the Burggarten winery in Heppingen, wine quality at the highest level is part of the winery's philosophy. From now on, the VDP.Adler will signal this as a seal of quality on all bottles of the Burggarten Winery. In 2018 Paul Michael and his brother Heiko took over the business from their father and now keep it consistently on the road to success. While Paul Michael mainly takes care of the cellar and marketing, Heiko is mostly to be found in the vineyard.

The 197th winery in the VDP, relies in its portfolio on the classics of the Ahr, Spätburgunder and Frühburgunder. White Burgundy varieties complete the range. The yield is approx. 14 ha, which are distributed along the middle and lower Rhine from Walporzheim to Heimersheim, including VDP.GROSSE LAGEN® such as KRÄUTERBERG or SCHIEFERLAY. The ageing takes place in traditional barrels as well as in barriques. Cellarmaster Paul Michael has managed to give the wines from Burggarten their own style and to consolidate it continuously. And because one likes to linger with good wine, the Weinquartier guesthouse also belongs to the winery.

In 1994 the first wineries of the Ahr were incorporated into the Association of German Prädikatsweingüter and affiliated to the VDP.Nahe. The foundation of the independent regional association VDP.Ahr took place in 2017. Since then, the VDP.Ahr has been engaged in the new admission of the Burggarten Winery. "The VDP.Ahr is a small, family federation. We are pleased  about the increase and particularly to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the VDP.Ahr on 27 October 2019 with now seven VDP.Ahr.estates, commentate Marc Adeneuer, chairman of the regional federation, the new admission.

Background

The Ahr region near Bonn is one of the smaller and nothern wine growing regions in Germany. The 560 ha of vineyards extend 25 km in a westerly direction along the tranquil river Ahr from Altenahr in the direction of the Rhine in steep and steep vineyards. The special feature of this region is that red wine and especially Pinot Noir grow here on slate soil - elegance and coolness paired with minerality.

The members of the VDP Ahr belong to the spearhead of red wine growing in Germany. Pioneers such as Werner Näkel and Wolfgang Hehle infected the Ahr valley with their striving for quality in the 1980s and thus spurred the cultivation area on to outstanding qualities which are now internationally renowned.

The cellar masters of the VDP wineries Deutzerhof, Jean Stodden, Kreuzberg, Meyer-Näkel, J.J. Adeneuer and Nelles know how to bottle this unique selling point of the slate vineyards, each in their own characteristic way.