A Chat with 2Naturkinder

2Naturkinder

Germany, Franconia, Kitzingen

Micheal Voelker and Melanie Drese spent many years working in other fields, traveling the world and living in Heidelberg, Regensburg, London, and New York. In 2013 they returned to Bavarian Germany to begin taking over Michael’s father’s winery in Kitzingen. They began to make natural wines under the 2Naturkinder label as a side project for the winery, and in 2019 have fully expanded the project to take over the winery’s production. 

We've had a chat with Melanie:

How did the transition away from conventional winemaking go for you, since Michael's parents retired?
The winery which used to employ more than 40 people in the 1960s has shrunk to Michael and me. After six to seven years since we started this is a new beginning for us, a new structure. We have gone through loads of unexpected events which have really tested us such as broken machinery and staff drop-outs. We are still working through the transition but I think we will be able to find our balance in the coming few months. 
One of the biggest challenges will be the upkeep of the big estate, with a smaller wine production. 

How was last year's harvest for you?
Quite difficult. It was a very hot year. In addition to that, as 2018 hasn't been great, we could also feel the effect of that in 2019. Loads of dried up grapes, and we've particularly had huge losses of 60% of the Bacchus variety. Something that has never happened before! But, we are hopeful for this year. So far we've had loads of rain, which is great as it builds up water reserves in the soil.

So would you say these are the effects of climate change?
Absolutely. That's one of the reasons we have said that if we plant new vineyards, we will predominantly plant traditional grape varieties which can withstand the heat more.
We are actually about to take over two additional vineyards this year which will be newly planted. The first one this spring. As part of that, we will also be planting loads of trees in collaboration with the Landesbund für Vogelschutz , the same organisation we work with to preserve the life of bats in our vineyards. This is in order to counteract against climate change and it will also be really helpful for vines to cope with the heat.

What else is happening for you in 2020?
We will be bottling up a new 2018 Pinot Gris/Riesling blend called Veinschwärmer, which is inspired by an endangered bat species which has been reported roaming the vineyard. Both vineyards are right next to each other, but the Riesling has been planted a bit later so it is the younger one out of those two. For us, the variety didn’t work very well by itself and after experimenting with it for two to three years, we've had the idea to mix both varieties and Veinschwärmer is the end result!

Also, there is an idea of holding workshops on our estate, which isn't official yet. The workshops would be around natural wine, food, foraging – exploring different topics in general. As we are getting contacted often by people from all over the world who want to come see us and we've also got plenty of space on the estate, we would like to use it in creative ways. Getting like-minded people together sounded like a nice plan! More info to be released soon!

In general we are trying to travel less as there is just so much to do here, but this isn't really possible. Next we will be going to Lissabon as well as New York as the US is offering huge opportunities for the natural wine market.

As Michael said, in 2020 we don’t want to grow our business in terms of revenue or popularity. It’s about being content, implementing a better working structure, achieving a balance and accepting that things take time.

Now in Stock

Sparkling

2018 Bacchus Pet Nat - Bacchus
Crushed and pressed in a pneumatic press. "Noticing the benefit of blending fresh juice with a good splash of wine from the previous year we mixed Bacchus juice from the first harvest day with the same amount of a finished wine from 2017. And that’s why there is no vintage on the label this time. 2018 was the best Bacchus year we’ve ever had so 100% beautiful grapes were crushed and fermented on the skins for four days before being pressed and blended with a wine from 2017 (a blend of Bacchus and a bit of Silvaner). Bottling took place another three days after end of August. Warmly disgorged by hand in March 2019."

White

2018 V&S - Muller Thurgau
Malolactic fermentation and aged in fiberglass. "A super early vintage for almost everything including this Müller-Thurgau harvested in August 2018. Destemmed and pressed the juice fermented in a fiberglass plastic tank and was racked just two days before bottling."

Orange 

2018 Drei Freunde - Bacchus, Muller-Thurgau, Silvaner
"The top three planted varieties in Franken are Bacchus, Müller-Thurgau and Silvaner. Kind of logical playing with a blend. The previous vintages have been reflecting the growing conditions of each season and so does this one. 2018 was the best Bacchus year we’ve ever seen so there was a lot and it was perfectly healthy.
The three wines going into the blend were fermented and aged separately but similarly: semi-carbonic maceration for a week (whole bunches included only for the Bacchus), pressed and fermented & aged in steel (Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau) and one big old oak barrel (Bacchus)."

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