Holger Koch Kaiserstuhl Chardonnay NV

Profile & Story

Holger Koch and his wife Gabriele Engesser farm Burgundy varieties on the steep, terraced, volcanic slopes of the Kaiserstuhl in Baden, Germany. The Koch family had grown grapes in Bickensohl for generations, selling to the local cooperative since 1923, until Holger took over from his parents in 1999 -- after training at Chateau Graf Neipperg in Saint-Emilion and as head cellarmaster at Franz Keller -- and began estate-bottling. The estate farms organically with low yields, hand harvesting, indigenous-yeast fermentation, and aging in a mix of stainless steel and large-format wood for six to eleven months on fine lees with battonage; wines are generally unfined with light or no filtration.