Popping Corks: The Second Vinous Sekt Report

BY ANNE KREBIEHL, MW | MAY 6, 2025

The renaissance of German and Austrian Sekt continues apace. After last year’s paean to the revival of bottle-fermented Sekt in both countries, this is the second report on all things German-speaking and bottle-fermented. The wines in this report again hail from Austria—Niederösterreich, Vienna, Burgenland and Steiermark—and 12 of Germany’s 13 growing regions.

Aspiration and Reality

Clear ambition is apparent in both countries, as is growing awareness of the trend that is fine Sekt. But it is also clear that only a handful of players know how to achieve the highest level of quality. Long lees-aging alone does not make a fine Sekt, nor does single-site provenance. It takes more than that, namely farming specifically for Sekt base wine in terms of yield and ripeness parameters, choosing the right picking date, pressing carefully and separating press fractions. No matter what style of Sekt winemakers are aiming to produce, these cornerstones are non-negotiable. Many still get it wrong, but more and more are on the right path—newcomers as well as more established players who are fine-tuning every year. For this year’s report, for instance, I reviewed the Sekts of Felix Keller (son of Klaus Peter Keller), as well as the new Blanc de Noirs from Gunderloch and AdamsWein, winemakers from Rheinhessen who craft excellent still wines but are well aware that making Sekt is a different game altogether.

Keller: Just One Example of Serious Intent

Felix Keller is a perfect embodiment of Germany’s new Sektmaker generation. He trained at Reichsrat von Buhl in the Pfalz. At the time, then-Technical Director Mathieu Kauffmann (former chef de cave at Champagne Bollinger) was  tasked with making fine Sekt. [As an aside, some of the Sekts Kauffmann made during this period were finally disgorged and released by Reichsrat von Buhl and submitted for review.) Felix Keller says, “It was Mathieu who inspired me first.” This spurred Keller to train in Champagne, where he worked with the Bérèche brothers in Montagne de Reims. “This is why I have been making Sekt at home since 2018,” Keller adds, starting with just 200 bottles. Klaus Peter Keller was happy for his son to make Sekt at the home estate but insisted it should be done “properly,” explaining, “We decided to go to the Zellertal, at higher altitude with active lime in the soil. There, we decided rigorously which parcels were to be dedicated to Sekt and which to still wine, with one exception. When we see that Riesling has great Strahlkraft [radiance] and acidity, say in the Abtserde or Schubertslay, we may make an exception and bottle some Sekt base.” Felix Keller continues, “We said from the start that we only would make Sekt from top sites, from Grosse Lagen in the Zellertal.” Father and son intend to bottle single-site Sekts in “great years” while having also maintaining a constant multi-vintage, site-blended Grande Cuvée. The Kellers have already increased production to 2,500 bottles with the plan to scale up to 10,000 bottles a year, and they continue to build up their reserves. New plots dedicated to Sekt are planted at very high densities with newly developed rootstocks. “We [the family] were all convinced of this new project, but the expertise and feel for Sekt is with Felix,” says Klaus Peter Keller. Sekt-lovers have much to look forward to. While latitudes are only one aspect of many that define climate, Readers should note that Zellertal, at 49.64° is further north than Avize (48.97°N), Ludes (49.15°N) and Reims (49.25°N), albeit with less Atlantic influence. A quick glance over to Austria shows that Langenlois in the Kamptal lies at 48.47°N and Poysdorf in the Weinviertel at 48.66°N, while Les Riceys, deep in the Côte des Bar, is at 47.99°N.

This father-and-son team leaves nothing to chance. Felix (left) and Klaus Peter Keller are pictured here in their Zellertal vineyards.

Classics, Non-Classics and Riesling

In varietal terms, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and blends of both, often with portions of Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc, predominate in this report, both in Sekts from Austria and Germany. There are great examples of brilliantly pure Blanc de Blancs and beautifully taut and structured Blanc de Noirs made from the two chief varieties, while a handful of pure Pinot Blanc Sekts show respectable results. Welschriesling is a well-known Sekt base in Austria and crops up occasionally, albeit in blends, where the variety can add brightness and acidity. Zierfandler, the rare specialty of Austria’s Thermenregion, likewise lends both substance and freshness to Sekt. I am still not sure what to make of pure Grüner Veltliner Sekt, but Jurtschitsch proves that in the right hands, this often savory variety can shine. The Austrian red grapes Zweigelt and Sankt Laurent, on the other hand, lend themselves exquisitely to Sekt, with Zweigelt having quite some track record, especially for Rosé wines. Various other varieties like Muskat Ottonel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Blaufränkisch, Sauvignon Blanc, Roter Veltliner, Silvaner and Kerner also make an appearance but struggle to convince as Sekt.

Rieslingsekt

With its slender body and high acidity, Riesling is most certainly suited to Sekt production. While there are some Austrian Rieslingsekts in this report, it seems to be a rather German discipline and USP. There is well-documented history of Sparkling Hock and Sparkling Moselle successfully conquering world markets at the turn of the 20th century. But Riesling is tricky when it comes to Sekt, for two reasons. One, Riesling has far more terpenes in its skins than Pinot varieties or Chardonnay, which makes it a semi-aromatic grape that yields a distinctly different style of Sekt. Second, few other varieties go through such a dramatic transition from primary to tertiary flavor development. In stylistic terms, this means that in the past, Riesling’s evolving fruit characteristics dominated Sekt flavors with notes of dried fruit, honey and even petrol. Some producers underlined this further with a dosage of sweet Riesling, often Auslese, rather than sugar solution. With bottle age, these Sekts were either heightened, even sublimated visions of Riesling or caricatures of it. Why? Because getting it right is really difficult. Today, however, a new kind of Rieslingsekt plays on texture, slenderness, brightness and site expression rather than mere fruit, made by people equipped with far more experience, understanding and insight.

Mathieu Kauffmann is one of Rieslingsekt’s greatest proponents. He has his own Sekt project in the Pfalz together with Steffen and Sophie Christmann of Weingut Christmann, and he consults at the Karthäuserhof in the Ruwer Valley, which is now also making elegant Sekt under his direction. Kauffmann explains, “In making Rieslingekt, I want only terroir, only saltiness. The reflection of terroir in Riesling is, in all cases, as interesting as in Chardonnay. There is something exciting about Riesling and its complexity on limestone, sandstone or granite.” Kauffmann achieves this with ripe fruit that has high enough acidity to allow it to go through full malolactic fermentation. Luise Raumland, of the eponymous Sekt family, notes that shading the fruit is key to ripening Riesling for Sekt production. The reason is that grape skins exposed to full sunshine produce the flavor precursors that lead to the famous petrol notes later on. Florian Lauer of Weingut Peter Lauer achieves ideal ripeness by harvesting Sekt base wine at the crest of his cool, elevated Saar slopes, where fruit ripens fully with long hang-time and aroma development but retains great acidity. Ripeness parameters are everything when it comes to making good Rieslingsekt, which is distinctly different from Pinot- and Chardonnay-based Sekts. This is a real specialism that has made strides in precision and quality.

Brut Nature

A striking 37% of the Sekts reviewed here are labeled as Brut Nature. Disregarding the labeling and looking at dosage only, 42% of them have no dosage, while one-fifth of these have a dosage of up to 3 g/L. This means that almost two-thirds have no or low dosage. A further 16% have a dosage up to 5g/L. I can only imagine that this stems from a desire to depict these wines with as much purity and honesty as possible. It is striking how well this works, and yes, I am aware of the controversy surrounding zero-dosage wines and the doubts about their longevity. For this report, I tasted mature zero-dosage wines, older than a decade, and they were in fine fettle. The top-scoring wines here can certainly stand shoulder to shoulder with other effervescent highlights from around the globe. It was a joy to taste them.

I tasted the wines in this report in late 2024 at home in London, with a handful tasted during my regional visits in Germany in July, August and September 2024.

© 2025, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

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