Why it matters
The producer
Weingut Markus Riedlin works family vineyards in Laufen that have been tended by the Riedlins since 1656. Markus Kuntz-Riedlin brought Geisenheim training to the estate when he took over in 2009, then joined Sybille Kuntz in farming it from 2010. Their narrow focus on Spätburgunder keeps the range anchored to one grape: the same Pinot Noir can become dry red wine, rosé or bottle-fermented pét-nat, with the cellar choice changing the finished bottle.
The family history reaches back to 1656, but the modern estate took shape after Markus Kuntz-Riedlin assumed responsibility for his parents’ vineyards in 2009. From 2010, he and Sybille Kuntz farmed the Baden property together, pairing a family vineyard inheritance with Markus’s enological training. The decision narrowed rather than widened the project: Riedlin cultivates only Spätburgunder, then lets red-wine extraction, rosé production and bottle fermentation provide the variety within the range.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Laufen sits in southern Baden at the foothills of the Black Forest, in Markus Kuntz-Riedlin’s home area of Markgräflerland. The estate does not spread its attention across varieties: Spätburgunder is planted and bottled in several forms. This gives the wines a clear local thread, from the dry reds raised in French barriques to the rosé pét-nat fermented in its own bottle.
The estate names Laufener Altenberg, Britzinger Sonnhole and Seefeldener Maltesergarten among its vineyard sites. Demeter describes a substantial share of Riedlin’s Spätburgunder vines as among the oldest in Markgräflerland, planted on a massive loess formation; its profile also records clay-limestone soils. Those are distinct ground descriptions rather than one blended soil claim, and they matter because Pinot Noir is the only grape Riedlin asks these sites to ripen.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Riedlin has held Demeter biodynamic certification since 2018, a formal farming standard applied to vineyards whose old Spätburgunder plantings are central to the estate. In the cellar, the red-wine method is documented most clearly for Riedlin Rot: fermentation is followed by extended skin contact and ageing in French barriques. Keeping the skins in contact with the fermenting Pinot Noir builds colour and tannin, while the barriques give the wine time to develop before bottling.
The 2024 Riedlin Rosé Pétillant Naturel takes the same grape in another direction. It is 100% Pinot Noir, fermented in bottle, unfiltered and made without additions as described by the producer. Bottle fermentation retains a natural perlage, so its structure comes from mousse and freshness rather than from the dry red’s skin-derived grip and barrel ageing.
Wines to know
The range in view
Riedlin Rot Spätburgunder and Riedlin Rot are the dry-red side of the estate, where Pinot Noir receives fermentation, extended skin contact and French-barrique élevage. Riedlin Rot 2015 shows the method in mature form: a dry red with fine tannins and a dark-mineral finish, rather than a simple fruit-led Pinot Noir.
Riedlin Rosé gives the estate’s sole grape a lighter-coloured expression, while Riedlin Rosé Pétillant Naturel 2024 turns Pinot Noir into sparkling wine through bottle fermentation. The pét-nat’s no-additions, unfiltered approach and perlage put mousse at the centre of the experience. These bottles are not competing rank levels: they are different answers to what one Baden Spätburgunder grape can do in red, rosé and sparkling form.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Begin with Riedlin Rot Spätburgunder 2015. It is a dry Baden Pinot Noir that joins the estate’s single-grape focus to its documented red-wine work: fermentation, extended skin contact and French-barrique ageing. In the glass, fine tannins carry a mature palate towards a dark-mineral finish. It comes first because it places Laufen’s family vineyards, Markus Kuntz-Riedlin’s cellar training and the estate’s return to bottling inside one red wine.