Schweigen Kalkmergel Weissburgunder Auslese
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2035
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Blue cheese, fruit-based tarts, rich pâté
✨ Technical Specifications
Hailing from the historic border town of Schweigen in the southern Pfalz, this wine is a testament to a unique cross-border terroir where vineyards seamlessly transition between Germany and France. The 'Kalkmergel' (limestone marl) soils of this region, deposited millions of years ago, impart a distinctive, intense minerality and structured elegance to the Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) grape. Crafted as an Auslese, this wine represents a meticulous selection of highly ripe, golden grapes, often kissed by noble rot, harvested by hand from Bernhart's finest parcels. The family's traditional, low-intervention cellar philosophy allows the natural concentration of stone fruits, honeyed richness, and vibrant limestone acidity to harmonize beautifully, capturing the essence of this historic Franco-German borderland.
🍾 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
Weissburgunder