Weinbau Ricker & Söhne

Weinbau Ricker & Söhne
Richard and Bernhard Ricker
Schorndorf, Württemberg, Germany

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Just outside Stuttgart in the Rems Valley, two brothers are making unique wines, unlike anything Württemberg has seen before. Although the area is dominated by conventional wine growing and wire training, the brothers, an architect and a winemaker, are growing vines further out in Schorndorf, focussing solely on PIWI varieties (fungus-resistant varieties) that they have planted in old orchards, on the site of an abandoned monastery vineyard. 

Almost 2.5 hectares of vines are spaced 3 metres apart, with the vines trained high to allow flora and fauna to flourish below. The elevation of the vines also creates ‘a more spacious and accommodating environment for our vineyard companions’; the sheep which graze year-round on the steep slopes. 

All cultivation is done by hand, with a human touch that extends to the cellar. During maceration, the grape skins are gently pressed down every three hours for around 20 days, before the wine is left to age on the skins in amphorae, buried in the ground. Throughout the entire process, from vineyard to bottle, no sulphur is used.