Uli Ernst is beaming all over his face. For more than a decade, the 49-year-old and his wife Corinne had dreamed of not only growing wine high above Lake Ammer, but also being able to market it. The way there was a bit rocky in the truest sense of the word, but now their white wine is bottled and can be sold. There were around 6,000 bottles, deliberately only filled as half a liter. So that as many people as possible get the opportunity to taste the drop.
Brilliant light yellow with fruity and spicy aromas: the Sauvignac from Lake Ammer.
(Photo: Arlet Ulfers)
The drop, yes, it is something special as such. It’s raining cats and dogs at the first tasting in one of Ernst’s vineyards, but the wine itself is more reminiscent of summer joys: with its alcohol content of just 11.5 percent by volume, it actually corresponds to what you drink in the evenings during the warm season would like to drink on the terrace. Added to this is its fruity aroma, reminiscent of lime, passion fruit, some gooseberries with a hint of pink pepper. That’s roughly how Uli Ernst would describe his wine, which turned out exactly how he wanted it to: “Refreshing like the Ammersee, varied like the Fünfseenland and cheerful, just like my wife Corinne.” The first Ammersee wine has also received very special praise for a previously unknown winemaker – from the well-known “Master of Wine” sommelier and author Romana Echensperger, who, according to Ernst, only tastes wines that she also considers worthy of evaluation. Her expert verdict: “This white wine runs brilliantly light yellow and with delicate green reflections in the glass. The bouquet is complex, intensely fruity and spicy. Aromas of lime, sweet melon, passion fruit and gooseberries are evident, but also aniseed, clover grass and cassis. The Wine is pleasantly dry. On the palate there is a sophisticated play between medium-bodied body, melting fruit, fresh acidity and liveliness. It is a complex white wine with a lot of structure, but without heaviness.”
So it’s no wonder that Uli Ernst is proud of his wine, which was made from a vine that shouldn’t really be known to the general public: Sauvignac. But that’s not a miracle. This grape is a fungus-resistant variety, a cross between Sauvignon Blanc with Riesling and various resistance partners. When Uli Ernst plants it, it still bears the unwieldy name “CAL.6-04”, a clear indication that it is not yet approved in Bavaria at that time.
Uli Ernst’s Sauvignac is cultivated organically – i.e. without the use of artificial pesticides or herbicides.
(Photo: Arlet Ulfers)
In general, a lot is still not possible when Ernst is finally hit by the Dionysian Cupid’s arrow in 2014 and plants his first vines. There are just 15 at the beginning, then there are 99 – the maximum amount at that time that is allowed without official approval. This has to do with the wine-growing laws, which at the time dictate exactly where wine-growing is allowed. In Bavaria, these are Franconia, a few areas on Lake Constance and four hectares near Regensburg. When the Free State was granted 18 hectares more wine-growing area in 2016, Ernst was also involved: he was allowed to cultivate one hectare with wine. Today he owns two vineyards: half a hectare between Utting and Schondorf with a direct view of Lake Ammer, and another half hectare a little further up. Again two years later, in 2018, he planted 3000 vines. But he won’t be able to harvest his grapes professionally until 2021: First it’s the browsing by deer and the bad weather in 2019 that literally ruins the entire harvest, then starlings, who a year later discover Ernst’s grapes as ideal food for themselves.
Ernst has learned from the setbacks and is now being advised by oenologist Anthony Hammond. Even without the winemaker Martin Fischborn from Dexheim in Rheinhessen, the Ammersee wine would hardly be possible. Because it is up to him to turn the harvested grapes into drinkable wine. He calls it “quite a challenge”. This statement has to be understood against the background that the Ammersee region is not a classic wine-growing area and despite climate change a lot is now possible, but not everything. Because basically it rains a little too much for wine on the Ammersee, and the hours of sunshine are also a bit scarcer than in other wine-growing regions. However, the soil for wine at this point is definitely suitable: the glaciers of the Limestone Alps once provided relatively calcium-rich subsoil, which the Romans probably also once used for viticulture, even if there are enough indications for this in the entire region, but no clear evidence .
The outline of the Ammersee can be seen on the label of the 0.5 liter bottle.
(Photo: Arlet Ulfers)
“But that’s why only fungus-resistant varieties like Sauvignac go here,” says winemaker Eschborn, who had to muster a lot of art to get the wine as aromatic as it is on the palate. For example, by stopping the fermentation at a residual sugar of eleven grams in order to balance the eight grams of acidity. The drop from Lake Ammer has actually become balanced and aromatic. Interested parties can see for themselves on Sunday, May 15, from 2 p.m., when Uli Ernst invites you to the wine festival on his farm. Otherwise he wants to offer it to the more upscale gastronomy around the lake and is currently selling it for 9.50 euros at the vending machine on his organic farm. The wine can also be ordered in cartons by sending an email to [email protected].