Drive south of Berlin, follow a forest road until a vineyard appears on a plateau, and look to the horizon: five kilometres away, the excavators of an active open-cast coal mine are still at work. This is Weingut Wolkenberg, and the soil under the vines is not ancient. It was engineered from mining spoil and recultivated in a research programme with Geisenheim University that began in 2005.
Weingut Wolkenberg is one of only six or seven wineries in Brandenburg, a region that sits entirely outside Germany's official wine appellation system. The village of Wolkenberg was relocated in 1987 to make way for the mining. The winery carries its name. The winery was completed in 2024.
Sales & Export Manager Philipp Henke spoke with Cool Climate Wine Summit CEO Jan Eggers about working without a regional designation, the grape varieties that suit this landscape, a Wochenende blend built across two vintages, Roter Riesling in sand and clay, a Qvevri project that came back from Georgia with more amphorae than planned, and why Poland is already on the radar for a winery an hour and a half from the border.
Recorded at the Wolkenbergwinery, with a glass of Wochenende and a view of the mine.
Read More
Weingut Wolkenberg at Cool Climate Wine Summit
Article
Website Weingut Wolkenberg