Let it pop!

Sparkling wine from Germany and Austria once had a pretty crummy reputation as a synonym for muggy headaches, doughy peanut puffs and really bad music.

Nothing against champagne, but there is plenty of Winzersekt from Germany and Austria that is perfectly capable of keeping pace. Like Marion and Manfred Ebner-Ebenauer, who manage one of Austria’s most renowned wineries in Poysdorf. Manfred is a 14th-generation scion of a local winegrowing dynasty who had actually intended to learn something »proper«. His wife originally wanted to become a horse trainer. But as life goes, the two meet and fall in love with each other – and with wine. »We realised that we could be a really good team,« Marion explains. You can say that again. In 2017, their Blanc de Blancs was chosen Austrian Sekt of the Year by Gault&Millau for the third time in a row.

Then there’s Norbert Bardong, who was studying beverage technology when he realised what he really wanted to do was create sophisticated sparkling wines using the traditional method. His historic vaulted cellars, located in Geisenheim in the Rheingau, were built for the purpose of making Sekt in the 19th century. Today, Bardong is famed for his long-aged sparkling wines – some are stored for 20 years and more. His Riesling Reserve Brut 1998 was described as »a Sekt that will amaze you«.

And let’s not forget Nico Brandner, who runs Griesel & Compagnie in the Hessische Bergstraße. His sparkling wines made from Spätburgunder, Chardonnay and Riesling grapes are representative of a whole new class of German Sekt. Actually, Brandner trained as a banker. »I became a vintner because I wanted a profession that was a calling and had a meaning,« he says of himself. That seems to have worked out pretty well. Does he raise his glass every evening with a toast to life? We don’t know. But perhaps you should. With some of Austria and Germany’s most wonderful sparkling wines.

Marion Ebner and Manfred Ebenauer fell in love, got married – and have been producing the most marvellous sparkling wines ever since.

At the Ebner-Ebenauer winery, they behead the odd bottle every now and then. Norbert Bardong lets his sparkling wines sit around for a while first (below).

Griesel & Compagnie stores its wine in small and large barrels made of wood and steel.

»Zeit ist ein Geschenk. Und Sekt machen ein Geduldsspiel.« Sagt Nico Brandner von Griesel & Compagnie.