I was invited to a Riesling tasting at Brotzeit Restaurant and Bier Bar. There I met with Konstantin Guntrum, the 11th generation of Guntrum wine business. From previous study about the Guntrum family history, I found that their business dated back to the 1600s.
There were gaps in the 700 years history and they need to be filled. Grabbing this opportunity, I interviewed Konstantin to find out more. From our one-on-one session and a follow up after the meeting, I finally pieced together the movements for the Guntrum family of when the family become wine producer from merchants. Also, what happened to the brewery they once owned.
The Guntrum family was originally from Wörrstadt, 15 km from their current winery at Nierstein. They started as wine merchants in 1648 and did so for over 100 years. Guntrum specialises in white wine and Rieslings.
During the French Revolution, when the west bank became French occupied, the family had to flee. With the French being Catholics and the Guntrums being Protestants, the Guntrums could have lost their heads to the guillotine. It was a lucky escape and they settled at 40 kilometres away from the east bank of Rhine River in Bensheim.
In 1909, the family moved to Nierstein and resumed as wine merchants. Until the early 1900s, Konstantin’s great grandfather Louis decided to move back to the west bank of the river and his brother Gustav Guntrum stayed where he was at the east bank in BensheimThey parted ways but both continued the wine business. Konstantin’s great grandfather bought the current vineyard starting in 1909 and expanded until 1923. That was when the Guntrums started their wine production.
We learned that the family started a brewery on the east bank of the river in the 1860’s, what happened to it?
My great uncle, Gustav Guntrum, started a brewery and pub in the 1860’s. It was named “Zur Sonne”. The brewery continued until the mid-1970s. As Gustav didn’t have any heirs, his winery and brewery.) were sold to a large German brewery after he died. The winery was closed down at the same time. There was nothing left of the operation on the east bank of the river that belongs to the Guntrum family anymore but the left bank of the river is what Guntrum is nowadays.
Do you produce any red wine?
We do a little bit about red wine. If you date back 30 years ago, red wine in Germany basically didn’t exist. If there were red wine, they came from France or Italy. However, German red wine production has increased drastically in the last 20 years. It accounts now to the 30% of the total wine production in Germany. It also depends on where the focus market is for each of the local producers: those producers which have stronger domestic market tend to produce the red wine for the domestic market, Guntrum is strong in the export market, we sell one quarter of our production domestically and 75% in exporting to more than 60 countries around the world. German white wine is more famous than red wine, Guntrum does have certain red wine production but it is comparatively small. There are two main grape varieties, one is Pinot Noir from Burgundy and another one is typically German variety called Dornfelder, that has gained great popularity in Germany in the last 10-15 years.
Do you also grow the red grapes in the vineyard?
We grow the Pinot Noir ourselves but buy the Dornfelder grapes.
Guntrum vineyard is located in a Grand Cru specified area, the competition is so great, what makes Guntrum vineyard different from others?
One thing is the name and its decades of heritage. The Guntrum name has had a very good reputation both domestically and internationally. I spoke to a potential importer in Bangkok 4 years ago and he said during our meeting that he didn’t need any samples for our wines. While I asked him the reason, he said that he already knew the Guntrum wines very well 20 years ago while he was working with another wine importer and the name sells for itself. I have had the same experience in several markets. Having a good reputation certainly helps.
Another point is, many German wineries are looking into China because it just looks very tempting with 1.2 billion of potential consumers. It’s one of a very simplistic way of looking at it. Guntrum looks into more of a niche market. We have very good markets in Puerto Rico and Iceland, we really enjoy our growing business in Malaysia, that’s the kind of market I like to go to.
What are the buyers within this niche market?
I focus on hotels, restaurants and retailers.
How many varieties of wine does Guntrum produce?
We produce about 45 different types of wine, enough potential to choose from different wines to tailor make the portfolio to suit different market.
How about Malaysia?
We have 4 wines in Malaysia at the moment: the Guntrum Riesling in blue bottle, which has been in the market for over 20 years, Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling that comes from a different region. My winery is one that is in Rheinhessen and this wine is from Mosel Valley, it shows distinctively different character of the Riesling grape. We tried these two varieties of grape side by side it’s quite interesting as the Piesporter is leaner and more minerally and the Guntrum Riesling is bolder and bigger and tastes a little bit sweeter. It is very interesting as even though the two wines are identically the same, the soil gave them totally different expressions.
Gewürztraminer Spätlese which are floral and aromatic, it’s better known in the Alsace region. Only very few growers produce Gewürztraminer in Germany as it is difficult to grow and provides only small yields. However, I like it because it gives very different flavours and aromas than Riesling.
Niersteiner Orbel Riesling Spätlese Trocken is a German tongue-breaker by name. It is a very specific Riesling in a dry style. Most of the Riesling in the market are semi-dry or sweet. Malaysian consumers tend to drink more Australian Chardonnay and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc because Malaysians prefer the dryer style over the slightly sweet style from Germany. But what is interesting is that the dry style of Riesling is what has been drunk in Germany in the past 30 years. There is such a thing as dry Riesling, it’s just that German producers have not considered exporting them because the reputation of German wines have always been that they are on the sweeter side. So we have had some success in importing this single vineyard dry Riesling to Malaysia about 2 years ago.
We are just now introducing a more bottom line dry Riesling named LOUIS DRY RIESLING, that will compete with the blue bottle Riesling in price, but it is a totally different profile and it is dry. It will be interesting especially when the restaurants sell it by the glass, as if you like Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, you might want to try this. It is a totally different flavor expression but it is as dry as a Sauvignon Blanc.
German dry Riesling is the first choice for German wine consumers whereas the sweet Riesling is not very fashionable there. We are now introducing what we are drinking at home to the Asian market.
How long has Guntrum exported wines to Asia?
Since the 1920s by my great grandfather Louis Guntrum , the one who started the winery in Nierstein in 1909. He was very successful domestically and he started to spread the word mostly around Europe and my grandfather was fluent in English and French. He really was the one who started to travel the world and that included Malaysia, Singapore and Tasmania in the early 1950s. Imagine how long the travels took at that time? He wouldn’t leave the country he has visited until he has obtained an importer’s contact. The Guntrum wine was imported to countries like South Africa where we now don’t have representatives anymore.
Can you tell us about your role now in Louis Guntrum?
I am a little bit of everything. I own and run the vineyards, I am the export manager, the finance manager, human resources, marketing... everything! It is a small operation, there are only six of us in total. In Germany we work with independent agents and I have one person working for me in sales in Germany. As far as export sales are concerned, that’s only me and importers in each country we work with.
How about the production?
I have a winemaker. I didn’t study wine making but as I have an idea about what I want and how it is to be done so I let the wine maker do it. Because of him, that allows me to travel all these times.
Can you tell us more about the Guntrum label and the history?
Our family crest was granted to my family by the German Emperor Karl V. in 1545 but I can’t tell you why it was granted. We have no record of the family history prior to 1648, the year when the German civil religious war ended. Between 1618 and 1648, protestants and Catholics burned each other’s churches and at that time, family records were held in the churches. Many of our records simply vanished. However, it was quite unusual and rare that the German emperor granted a crest to a family that did not belong to nobility. There must have been some major achievement by the Guntrum family at that time. We still have the original paper but nothing beyond that.
What is your vision for Guntrum’s business in the next 5 years in Asia?
I want to develop further the niche of dry Riesling as I think we have a great potential and a unique position. In general, many markets in Asia have remarkable potential for growth whereas I do not see significant growing potential in Europe or America. It is an interesting challenge to develop Asian markets, as tastes are quite different. Hence, our portfolio of both white and red wine in both dry and sweet styles cater to a wide range of tastes and markets.
LOUIS GUNTRUM vineyards are of Grand Cru standard. Year in year out these vineyards produce better, riper and tastier grape than other vineyards, which are not of Grand Cru standard. Since 1971 wine quality in Germany has been measured differently than in France, for example. Since the change in wine legislation in 1971, the focus was on the ripeness level of the grape at the time of harvest, i.e. the sugar content of the grape. The names for such quality levels are Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese etc. The quality of the vineyard was less important. Only now we are going back to the French system by classifying vineyards and by adapting the classification system to the French system, all the way up to Grand Cru, which is called Grosses GEwächs in Germany.
With Niersteiner Orbel Riesling Spätlese trocken we already have a Grand Cru product in Malaysia and am looking at another few for the market which have received several awards and accolades. The Grand Cru classified wines are all dry Rieslings so we will focus more on the medium to high end German wines. Compared to wines from other origins, they are reasonably priced and are totally different aspects of German wine. I have seen success for those wines in other market and am looking forward to having them here.
Accolades & awards for Guntrum Riesling
1. 2011 RIESLING KABINETT TROCKEN NIERSTEIN PETTENTHAL
GOLD, 90 points – Mundus Vini: The Grand International
Wine Competition (6000 Wines from around the World)
86 points „Best of Riesling – International Riesling
Competition 2012”
2. 2011 RIESLING SPÄTLESE TROCKEN OPPENHEIM SACKTRÄGER
GOLD, 92 points – Mundus Vini: The Grand International
Wine Competition (6000 Wines from around the World)
TOP100, 90 points „Best of Riesling – International Riesling
3. 2011 RIESLING SPÄTLESE TROCKEN NIERSTEIN OELBERG
TOP100, 91 points „Best of Riesling – International
Riesling Competition 2012 (2400 Rieslings from 10 countries tasted and this is one of the best!)
More awards:
- 2011 RIESLING SPÄTLESE NIERSTEIN REHBACH
SILVER at „Japan Wine Challenge“
- 2011 RIESLING AUSLESE NIERSTEIN ORBEL
BEST GERMAN WINE and SILVER MEDAL at „Japan Wine Challenge“
GEWÜRZTRAMINER SPÄTLESE
very good at Premium Select Wine Challenge