Be it New Year’s Eve, a party or brunch, a Formula One or a horse race – whenever people are bubbling over with joy, it’s hard to imagine them without a glass of bubbly, the sparkling crown jewel of winemaking. German gourmets are the world champions of Sekt consumption. And that’s why many wine estates have established Winzersekt as a fixed component on their list of offers. Winzersekt now accounts for roughly 1% of the total grape must production. According to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, roughly 400 million bottles of sparkling wine per annum are consumed in Germany on occasions such as New Year’s Eve.

Sekt has a long tradition in Germany. The first sparkling wine houses in the country were already founded at the beginning of the 19th century. According to their own accounts, the Sektkellerei Kessler, founded in1826 in the small town of Esslingen near Stuttgart, is Germany’s oldest sparkling wine producer. In 1902, Emperor Wilhelm II introduced a sparkling wine tax (Sektsteuer) in order to finance, among other things, his war fleet. The Sektsteuer is still in place today and amounts to EUR 1.02 per bottle. Winzersekt, as we know it today, first emerged in Germany at the end of the 1980s.

Many wine estates still cultivate the tradition of Sekt today. High standards have to be kept in the manufacturing of Winzersekt. For instance, the base wine for the Sekt may only consist of grapes from the manufacturers own vineyards. This ensures that the Sekt carries a winemaker’s personal signature. The winemaker is responsible for every detail of the Sekt’s character, from the composition of the base wines down to the style. In addition, every Winzersekt has to be manufactured using the traditional method of bottle fermentation.

Download brochure (as pdf): Winzersekt: Add some sparkle to your life

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