Weingut Klein

Winery Klein - viticulture for 15 generations

The Klein Winery is located in Hainfeld in the Palatinate region of Germany. The estate has been in the hands of the Klein family since the 17th century. Wolff Klein acquired the first vineyard on August 12, 1659, thus founding the family business. Today, the estate is run by siblings Barbara and Peter Klein, the 15th generation. Barbara is a state-certified technician for viticulture and enology, and in her hands lies the implementation of her brother's creative ideas, together with cellar master Pascal Schlosser. Peter, for his part, is a graduate engineer in viticulture and oenology and is already active in the vineyard.

Viticulture on the southern wine route - Winery Klein

26 hectares of vineyards belong to the Klein Winery. They are distributed on the Haardtrand and in the Modenbachtal, located on the southern wine route. The soils here are characterized by slate, loess, sandstone and loam. This diversity allows for a variety of grape varieties, not just the usual suspects of the region. For example:

• Pinot Blanc
• Pinot Gris
• Syrah
• Tempranillo
• Grüner Veltliner
• Chardonnay
• Yellow Muscat
• Riesling
• Sauvignon Blanc

The highlights of the winery are the Altenforst and Kalmit vineyards, where the 4 estate wines are produced. The Kleins rely on strict manual labor in the vineyard, so almost every grape is handled individually to sort out only the best harvest material.

In the cellar of the Klein winery

The next step begins in the cellar. The motto here is to intervene as little as possible in nature and to give the wine room to develop its own character. The Kleins describe it this way:

"Because you can't create a good wine. We just give our wines a creative framework, and they do the rest themselves."

The wines are aged in stainless steel and wooden barrels, and barrique is used for the red site wines to give the Palatinate wines a touch of internationality. Sauvignon Blan and Scheurebe, on the other hand, are aged in tonneau, a large wooden barrel, a specialty of the house. In the cellar of the Klein winery, white wines, red wines, rosé wines and also sparkling wines are created in this way