Nicknamed the Godfather of German Pinot Noir, Bernhard Huber’s eponymous wine is recognised among Germany’s best. Partly responsible for the German wine revolution, he is considered among Germany’s top ten producers, and certainly the top Pinot producer in Germany. He even popped up in French gastronomic guide Gault et Millau as the top producer of 2007, and they tend to know a thing or two about wine.

The estate is on prime terroir, very similar to the mineral-rich soil of Burgundy. Thus it was no surprise to find Pinot Noir growing; in fact, records show that vines were growing as many as 700 years ago and “Malterdinger”, where the estate is located, is another word for Pinot Noir. Although the vineyard had been in the Huber family for several generations, it wasn’t until Bernhard and his wife Barbara took to running the estate in 1987 that they began bottling under their own name. Together they grew the estate the 26-hectares, 65% of which is Pinot Noir (or Spatburgunder in German). Huber decided to farm organically, as well as limit yields to add layers of concentration. In 2004 he released his first “Reserve”, a single vineyard wine that has come be recognised as one of Germany’s bests.

Sadly, Bernhard lost his battle with cancer aged just 55 in 2014. His legacy, however, lives on; his son, Julien, has taken up the reins of the estate and as time goes on, it is clear that his father taught him well. He has kept the entire team that worked under his father’s tutelage and has introduced a few small (but significant) changes into the day to day running of the business. Julien’s (very reasonably priced) wines rate highly, scoring in the mid to low-nineties almost consistently. Market demand fell slightly between 2017-2019, but prices have remained stable.