Enderle & Moll

Munchweier, Baden

Sven Enderle and Florian Moll first met in 2003 first at wine school in Winzer Schule in Freiburg. After graduating in 2005 they followed separate paths or their apprecticemships, Sven working with respected grower Bercher-Schmidt and Florian with Weingut Höfflin, both situated in the old region of Keiserstuhl in Baden. Next Florian moved to France to work at various domaines, including one in the Languedoc, and Sven moved around in Baden while visiting domaines in Burgundy.

In 2006 Sven was given the opportunity to rent 1.8ha of old vines in the shallow soils behind Munchweier, on the slope below the western edge of the Black Forest, an area of Baden largely forgotten due to the dominance of coops. So in 2007, satisfied with their training, Sven and Florian created Enderle & Moll and produced their first barrels. Today they farm 2.1 ha and in an exciting move have just agreed to work with friend who farms organically which will eventually give them access to fruit from a further 7ha. Their own vineyards range in age from 25 to 80 years of age and they are fortunate to have some of the oldest Pinot Noir vines in Baden.

Sven and Florian work completely outside the traditional quality systems. Refusing to sign up for the Pradikat system which is based on the Oeschle scale (sugar level), claiming it has no correlation to quality and promotes high alcohol, high extract constructed Pinot Noirs that do not reflect their origins. Instead they label their wines as Pinot Noir Landwein, not vineyard named Spätburgunder as it would be if the wines were Pradikat.

The boys are dedicated to expressing their sites, especially for the Pinot Noirs where transparency of terroir is their single focus. They farm their own plots completely by hand, no tractor, using backpacks for spraying and whipper snippers for controlling grass under the vines. They also use various natural sprays including biodynamic preparations and are working close to this philosophy but not completely. They know every inch of their vineyards intimately. Yields are kept very low aiding the natural concentration of the old vines to express their sites with even better clarity.

In the cellar its traditional winemaking with a low-fi, low-cap set up – old oak barrels and a basked press. That said they source their second-hand barrels from some of Burgundies finest domaines such as Jayer-Gilles and Dujac. Ferments are natural with no sulphur added until bottling. Whites see skin contact depending on the variety and vintage, and the Pinot Noirs include a good proportion of whole bunches, sometimes 100%, with gentle hand plunging for minimal extraction. There is no fining, filtration of pumping.

The results are pretty extraordinary. A range of whites showing varying degrees of skin-contact but all equally delicious, some fun, frivolous and fruity and other umami and re-invented. The Pinot Noirs are what drew us to them initially and they still remain the centrepiece of this domaine. At this stage there are two cuvees from a blend of parcels and younger vines and then the two flagships currently are old vine, single site and single soil type – Kuschelkalk: from limestone with fossilised mussel shells, and Buntsandstein: from the unique red sandstone of their corned of Baden. The single soil wines are exceptional value compared and on the Burgundian scale we thing they site in between Premier and Grand Cru and so offer great value.

If you thought German Pinot Noir was either washed out or over made and over extracted like most of the famous names, then Enderle & Moll will change your mind and introduce you to the beginning of a major quality and style revolution for southern German Pinot Noir.

Virtually unknown in Germany still, Enderle & Moll have already recognised on the global pinot scene as a producer to watch with Jancis Robinson recently labelling them a “new cult producer”.