Germany · Franken

Weingut Steintal

Franken Spätburgunder from Klingenberg’s red Buntsandstein terraces, made with hand-picked fruit and gentle cellar work.

The producer

Weingut Steintal is based in Klingenberg, Franken, where red Buntsandstein, steep slopes and protected terraces shape an estate devoted to Spätburgunder. Of its 11 hectares across Klingenberg, Großheubach and Bürgstadt, 90% are planted to Pinot Noir. Low yields, complete hand harvesting and a cellar that avoids pumping, filtration and cultured yeast keep the focus on dry, site-led red wines.

The labels move from Buntsandstein Spätburgunder, named for the sandstone beneath the vines, to Klingenberg Spätburgunder Alte Reben and Klingenberg Schlossberg Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs. The old-vine Klingenberg wine brings firmer tannin and oak-derived shape around dry fruit; Schlossberg carries more weight, savoury depth and a longer finish. Start with Alte Reben for a clear view of the estate’s village and grape.

Known for

Dry Spätburgunder from red Buntsandstein terraces in and around Klingenberg.

Notable facts

The story

A new name for the sandstone slopes

In 2019, Benedikt Baltes returned to the Ahr valley after nine years with the Klingenberg estate he had acquired and privatized in 2010. The property was renamed Weingut Steintal that same year. Its earlier form had been municipal: in 1912, the town acquired the old Rentamt building and established Weingut der Stadt Klingenberg. The new name drew on the red Buntsandstein, steep slopes and protected terraces around Klingenberg, where most of the estate’s Spätburgunder work is rooted. By the time the name changed, the winery had moved from town ownership to private ownership, while its bottles had become firmly centred on Pinot Noir from the Main valley.

From the atlas

Weingut Steintal

At A Glance

The Producer

Weingut Steintal is a Klingenberg estate built around Spätburgunder rather than the broad white-wine picture often associated with Franken. Its 11 hectares are spread across Klingenberg, Großheubach and Bürgstadt, but nine-tenths are planted to Pinot Noir; the result is a focused red-wine range that moves from sandstone-led estate wine to an old-vine Klingenberg bottling and a Schlossberg Grosses Gewächs. Philipp Aufderheide is the person continuing the winery in Klingenberg today.

Place

Klingenberg lies in the Main valley, where Steintal works steep, terraced vineyard ground alongside holdings in Großheubach and Bürgstadt. The place appears directly on the labels: Klingenberg Spätburgunder Alte Reben is a village wine, while Klingenberg Schlossberg names a particular vineyard site. Those names narrow the origin from the estate’s wider sandstone landscape to older vines and then to Schlossberg, helping explain why the range is arranged by place rather than by a collection of unrelated cuvées.

Soil And Site

Red Buntsandstein is the physical thread through Steintal’s vineyards. The estate links its name to this red sandstone, as well as the protected terraces and steep slopes around Klingenberg. In the glass, the most immediate consequence is not a promised flavour but a coherent frame for the Pinot Noir range: the Buntsandstein bottling names the ground beneath the vines, while Schlossberg takes the label from a more narrowly defined site.

Story

The present estate began in 1912, when the town acquired the old Rentamt building and established the municipally owned Weingut der Stadt Klingenberg. Benedikt Baltes acquired and privatized the property in 2010, bringing the estate into private hands while retaining its Klingenberg base and vineyard focus. The later Steintal name puts the red-sandstone terraces at the centre of the bottle story, so a wine labelled Buntsandstein is rooted in the same landscape that reshaped the estate’s public name.

Vineyards And Cellar

Steintal states that it farms sustainably and ecologically, keeps yields low and harvests every parcel by hand. Low yields and hand selection concentrate the cellar’s attention on the fruit arriving from the terraces; gentle processing then avoids pumping, filtration and cultured yeast. Fermentation therefore proceeds without added cultured yeast, while the finished wine is not filtered. For its leading reds, barrel ageing can extend to two years in casks of at least 300 litres, giving oak a structural role without turning the range into a formula of small-barrel flavour.

Wines

The range begins with Buntsandstein Spätburgunder, the estate-level Pinot Noir named for the red sandstone under the vines. It is the broadest expression of Steintal’s ground and provides the first step into dry red fruit, acidity and tannin without attaching the wine to one named village or vineyard.

Klingenberg Spätburgunder Alte Reben moves to a dry village wine from old vines in Klingenberg. The old-vine designation and oak élevage place more weight on structure: fruit remains central, while tannin and oak give the palate a firmer shape. Above it sits the dry Klingenberg Schlossberg Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs. Schlossberg names the vineyard; Grosses Gewächs is the VDP category for a dry wine from a top classified site. Its longer barrel ageing and site-specific label place it at the most concentrated end of this three-wine sequence.

In The Glass

Across Steintal’s Spätburgunders, start with the relationship between dry fruit, acidity and tannin rather than searching for a single house aroma. Buntsandstein is the lighter-framed geological entry point, with fruit and freshness carrying the wine forward. Alte Reben adds old-vine material and oak ageing, so the palate should feel more structured, with tannin and wood shaping the finish. Schlossberg GG takes the same grape into a more sustained register: dry fruit, savoury depth, oak and grip can remain present through a longer finish, with enough structure for further bottle age.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Klingenberg Spätburgunder Alte Reben. It is a dry Pinot Noir from old vines in the village where the estate is based, placing it between the broad Buntsandstein wine and the more demanding Schlossberg GG. Expect fruit carried by acidity, a firmer tannin line and oak-derived shape from élevage. It shows how Steintal turns Klingenberg Spätburgunder into a structured red without requiring a leap straight to the top vineyard category.

Anecdote

In 2019, Benedikt Baltes returned to the Ahr valley, ending his period at the Klingenberg estate he had acquired and privatized in 2010. The property was renamed Weingut Steintal that same year. The new name drew on the ground around Klingenberg: red Buntsandstein, steep slopes and the protected terraces above the Main valley. The municipal estate founded in 1912 as Weingut der Stadt Klingenberg had already passed through several forms by then—from town ownership to private ownership—and its bottles now carried a name tied directly to the sandstone landscape around the vines.

Final Word

Steintal is worth seeking out for a clear Franken interpretation of Spätburgunder: hand-picked Pinot Noir from red-sandstone terraces, handled without pumping or filtration, then separated on the label by sandstone, village, old vines and Schlossberg. Begin with Alte Reben; move to Schlossberg when a longer, more structured finish is the aim.

Sources

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