Chardonnay Brut
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
fresh oysters, roasted chicken, creamy mushroom risotto
✨ Technical Specifications
Crafted in the southern Pfalz right along the French border, Weingut Bernhart's Chardonnay Brut is a sparkling wine of exceptional class, produced using the traditional method (Klassische Flaschengärung). The grapes are sourced from limestone-rich (Kalkmergel) soils, which impart a distinct chalky minerality and vibrant acidity to the base wine. This unique borderland terroir, where German precision meets Alsatian warmth, allows the Chardonnay to achieve perfect ripeness while retaining its essential freshness. Following secondary fermentation in the bottle, the wine undergoes extended lees aging, developing a fine, persistent mousse alongside complex aromas of green apple, ripe citrus, toasted brioche, and subtle hazelnut. It stands as a testament to the estate's dedication to artisanal sparkling wine production.
🍾 About the Producer
Weingut Bernhart is situated in Schweigen-Rechtenbach along the southernmost fringe of the Pfalz, right at the French frontier near the historic Deutsches Weintor. While the family's agricultural roots date back centuries, estate bottling commenced under Willi and Wilma Bernhart in 1971, followed by their accession to the VDP in 2004 and formal organic certification in 2012. Today led by Gerd and Sabine Bernhart, the estate commands a singular cross-border terroir: approximately two-thirds of its roughly 20 hectares of vineyards are technically situated on French soil in Alsace, governed by special bilateral treaties that allow the wines to bear German designations. The viticultural backbone rests on dense, fossil-rich limestone, calcareous marl, and clay deposits across benchmark cru plots such as the Schweigener Sonnenberg. Winemaking emphasizes spontaneous fermentation, lees contact, and judicious wood aging, generating deeply structured, mineral-driven white and red expressions epitomized by their Kalkmergel and Grosses Gewächs bottlings.
🍇 Grapes
Chardonnay