Why it matters
The producer
Christmann’s documented Pfalz wine history reaches back to 1508. Today the estate sits at Peter-Koch-Strasse 43 in Gimmeldingen, where Steffen and Sophie Christmann make Riesling and Pinot Noir from named vineyards. The important connection is plain: a vineyard name and its VDP rank tell you where a bottle stands in the range, while the grape tells you whether the cellar is pursuing white-wine freshness or red-wine shape and grip.
The present estate took shape in 1845, when Anna Köhler married Hermann Häusser and the two families’ properties were joined. That union turned separate holdings into one winery, whose wines now carry both Riesling and Pinot Noir through successive generations. Steffen’s arrival as manager in 1996 and Sophie’s arrival in 2018 keep the family line active in the vineyard and cellar rather than leaving its history on the label alone.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The vineyards lie within five kilometres of one another along the Haardt mountainside. That close spread keeps Gimmeldingen and nearby named sites at the centre of the labels, while the classification system separates broader regional expression from particular vineyards. A Riesling or Spätburgunder bottle therefore carries both a grape and a location, not merely the name of the estate.
Christmann does not reduce its vineyards to a single soil-word on this page. Instead, composting, biodynamic preparations and soil management are part of the work across the holdings, because the estate treats the ground as a living part of vine growing. The consequence in the range is a site-led set of bottles: named vineyards and their VDP classifications provide the clearest physical distinction from one label to the next.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Organic and biodynamic farming at Christmann includes biodiversity, compost, preparations and soil care. Those choices begin with the vines and fruit: compost and soil work belong before harvest, so the winery can make decisions in the cellar from grapes grown in a managed vineyard rather than from a standardised raw material.
The cellar then divides by grape. Riesling is pressed and fermented with attention to its fruit and acidity, while Pinot Noir can involve barrels, whole clusters and pigeage—the working of fermenting skins. Whole clusters can bring floral or spicy notes and firmer tannin; pigeage draws colour and texture from the skins. The result is a range where Riesling can lean on citrus-like freshness and length, while Spätburgunder has more scope for cherry fruit, savoury spice, body and grip.
Wines to know
The range in view
Christmann restructured the portfolio in 2022 around its classified vineyards and named sites. The Aus den Lagen wines sit alongside VDP.ERSTE LAGE and VDP.GROSSE LAGE bottles, allowing the range to move from a broader collection of sites toward wines tied to a particular vineyard. Classification is therefore not decoration: it is the organising device for how Riesling and Pinot Noir are presented.
Mussbacher Eselshaut appears in the Pinot Noir range as a 2023 Aus den Lagen Spätburgunder, while Idig appears at VDP.GROSSE LAGE level in both 2023 Spätburgunder and 2024 Riesling. Across those names, the grapes supply the contrast. Pinot Noir brings red-fruit character, tannin and oak-related texture where barrels are used; Riesling brings fruit, acidity and a dry, mineral line. Idig’s two grapes make the same vineyard name a useful comparison rather than a repeated bottle.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the 2023 Mussbacher Eselshaut Spätburgunder, an Aus den Lagen Pinot Noir from a named site. It places a vineyard name beside a less elevated range level than Idig GG, so the label introduces Christmann’s classification without demanding a comparison between top-site bottles. Expect Pinot Noir fruit, spice, moderate body and tannic grip, with the cellar’s barrel, whole-cluster and pigeage work providing texture rather than turning the wine into a heavy red.