Friedrich Becker
Weingut Friedrich Becker is located in Germany in the Palatinate wine region, in the village of Schweigen, just 500 meters from the French border. The specialty of the farm is its exceptional location, as up to 60% of the farms are actually located on the Alsace side. The soils of the nurseries are patchwork in the Alsatian style, consisting mainly of limestone, clay and sandstone. This partly explains the grape varieties in use, which are a combination of Germany and France. The 28-hectare orchards grow 70% Pinot varieties, 10% Riesling, and 20% Mixed varieties, such as Silvaner, Gewürztraminer and Muskatelier. In the future, the farm's production will focus even more on Burgundian grape varieties and their traditional preparation in oak barrels.
At the nurseries, partially organic methods are used, which means, among other things, pest control with the help of ladybugs. For Becker, the ecological diversity of the orchards and the health of the vines are the starting points for making quality wine. In the production of dry wines, grapes infected with noble mold are not allowed at all, which are already pruned in the orchards when the grapes are picked by hand. Riesling bunches are often left to macerate for up to 8-10 days before fermentation, which requires the grapes to be extremely fit and healthy.
Friedrich Becker has been one of the best wine houses in the Palatinate region since its early days. The farm has been producing its wines since 1973, although the family's history in growing grapes is much longer, with the activity being a part of the lives of up to seven generations. Above all, the current winemaker, Fritz Becker Junior, who has been in charge of the estate since 2005, is famous for his Pinot Noir wines, known in the region as Spätburgunders. The farm's Pinot Noir has been chosen 8 times as the best red wine in Germany, and Becker's red wines are role models for many other German red wine producers. This is also reminded of the handsome fox on the bottle labels, which refers to Aesop's fable about the fox who barked at the grapes to turn them sour without being able to reach them himself. At a time when other producers in the region did not yet believe in the potential of red wines from the Palatinate, Becker Senior got his share of wonder by planting Pinot Noir in his orchards. Time has shown that Senior was right!
Sufficient time is the cornerstone of Becker's winemaking, and the wines are allowed to rest on the lees for as long as possible without sulfite additions. The quality of the red wines in particular is enhanced by the oak barrels used for maturation, which are practically the best that the earth can bear. A large part of the barrels in Becker's cellar come directly from the cellar of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in Burgundy after maturing one vintage. As every wine connoisseur knows, the barrels used at the DRC farm are guaranteed to be the handiwork of the world's best barrel makers!
Weingut Friedrich Becker belongs to the VDP association of German quality wine producers. Farms belonging to the VDP wine classification standard produce the best wines in the region and have passed the quality control criteria, which are in many ways stricter than German legislation.
The annual production from the farm's own nurseries varies between 120-140,000 bottles.
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