Weingut Krauss — Deutsche Weinstraße, Pfalz, run by Lukas Krauss, aka "der Mann mit dem Hut," which pretty much tells you everything about the personality behind these wines before you even pull a cork. Dad started the estate in 1984, Lukas did his apprenticeship at Müller-Catoir no less, made his first vintage in 2008, came on as co-owner in 2016, and by 2018 had the whole place certified organic and pointed firmly toward natural wine and proper sparkling.
Vineyards face the Kohlacker, farmed with genuine care, and here's what I love — Lukas doesn't chase the obvious grapes. Kerner, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner, Herold, Scheurebe, even a Grüner Veltliner and a Blaufränkisch (Lemberger, if you're German about it) — proper old, historically significant local varieties most people have forgotten to care about. Nothing added, nothing filtered, since 2018.
The Cremant de Pinot Sekt is genuinely one of the best-value natural sparklings coming out of Germany right now — lively, joyful, built for actually drinking rather than admiring. The Blaufränkisch carries a slightly classical structure but stays honest and natural underneath. Whites off Kerner, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner and friends come through vibrant and stony, hay and lemon rind, the kind of thing you want next to fish and not much else.
Beyond the cellar, the guy's out there on the municipal council, volunteering with Geisenheim's Wine Against Racism project — independence and community clearly mean something real to him, not just marketing language.
Charismatic, individual, unmistakably natural. Wines that taste exactly like the bloke who made them.
Weingut Krauss — Deutsche Weinstraße, Pfalz, run by Lukas Krauss, aka "der Mann mit dem Hut," which pretty much tells you everything about the personality behind these wines before you even pull a cork. Dad started the estate in 1984, Lukas did his apprenticeship at Müller-Catoir no less, made his first vintage in 2008, came on as co-owner in 2016, and by 2018 had the whole place certified organic and pointed firmly toward natural wine and proper sparkling.
Vineyards face the Kohlacker, farmed with genuine care, and here's what I love — Lukas doesn't chase the obvious grapes. Kerner, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner, Herold, Scheurebe, even a Grüner Veltliner and a Blaufränkisch (Lemberger, if you're German about it) — proper old, historically significant local varieties most people have forgotten to care about. Nothing added, nothing filtered, since 2018.
The Cremant de Pinot Sekt is genuinely one of the best-value natural sparklings coming out of Germany right now — lively, joyful, built for actually drinking rather than admiring. The Blaufränkisch carries a slightly classical structure but stays honest and natural underneath. Whites off Kerner, Müller-Thurgau, Silvaner and friends come through vibrant and stony, hay and lemon rind, the kind of thing you want next to fish and not much else.
Beyond the cellar, the guy's out there on the municipal council, volunteering with Geisenheim's Wine Against Racism project — independence and community clearly mean something real to him, not just marketing language.
Charismatic, individual, unmistakably natural. Wines that taste exactly like the bloke who made them.
