Jörg Geiger Manufactory – Prisecco & Co.

Prisecco from meadow orchard fruit by Manufaktur Jörg Geiger

Prisecco from Manufaktur Jörg Geiger is a non-alcoholic beverage made from composed fruit juices, blended with herbs, blossoms, and spices, and only carbonated afterwards. The fruit is often harvested before it is fully ripe to ensure less sweetness in the glass.

Manufaktur Jörg Geiger operates in Schlat at the foot of the Swabian Jura, processing around eighty varieties of fruit into liquid specialties for retail, catering, and private customers. In addition to Priseccos, they produce ciders and fruit sparkling wines, port-style dessert wines, apple vermouth, and brandies.

The first Prisecco was born from a setback

Jörg Geiger is a trained chef, and when he took over the family inn, Lamm, in Schlat, he felt something was missing for guests who did not drink alcohol. He taught himself how to process meadow orchard fruit. In 1998, he harvested the crop from five trees of an old wine pear variety and turned it into a sparkling wine. About two hundred bottles were produced, his first attempt at making something from this fruit that could hold its own alongside wine.

Five years later, the first PriSecco from Manufaktur Jörg Geiger was supposed to be made from that same old wine pear, which the company calls "Champagner Bratbirne" (Champagne roasting pear) and still produces today as a dry pear sparkling wine, but the trees bore no usable fruit that year. Geiger switched to a different old pear variety – and in 2003, this stopgap measure became the "Rotfruchtig" (red fruity) with its aromas of sour cherry and red currant, which is still produced according to the original recipe today.

The company spent years in a legal battle over the name of this pear with a French industry association. In the end, the Federal Court of Justice determined that it was a variety name that had been in use in Württemberg for over 150 years, and the matter ended with a settlement in 2007. Slow Food Germany has included the variety in its Ark of Taste since 2005, and the manufactory co-founded the WiesenObst (Meadow Fruit) association together with Slow Food.

Elderflower, rose scent, and cider from meadow orchard fruit

The four classics are the pillars of the house, and the color alone reveals which one is in the glass – straw yellow for the "Weißduftig" (white aromatic), coral pink for the "Rosenzauber" (rose magic), an almost black ruby red for the "Rotfruchtig," and golden amber for the "Apfelsinfonie" (apple symphony). We have selected the light classic with its herbal spice, which smells of ripe apple and elderflower and balances the sweetness of grape and peach against a tangy acidity. Goat cheese with rosemary and honey goes well with it, as does a summer salad with grilled peach.

The dark variety with its long, berry-like finish pairs well with red berry pudding and cherry cake, while the Rosenzauber with its rose bouquet is just as good for an aperitif as it is with berry desserts. The spicy, herbal Apfelsinfonie accompanies a yellow curry with chicken and mango. The entire range can be found under the non-alcoholic Prisecco varieties.

In addition, there is the series with rhubarb, apple, and blossoms, the seasonal fillings "Frühlingsduft" (spring scent) and "Mirabellengold" (mirabelle gold), and the certified organic line in white, rosé, and red. The "Aecht Bitter" gets its tartness from yarrow and wormwood, and alongside it are the "Dzin Bitter," the tea extract with hibiscus and plum, and the dealcoholized wines with their varietal names.

The house is just as fond of working with alcohol, and the cider made from meadow orchard fruit balances tart apple and sweet pear with a nutty meadow herb note. A sparkling fruit wine is made from old wine pears, ice apple wine from late-harvested apples, and pear, apple, and cherry mature in the P-series in the port wine style. "Wehmut," "Don't call me Gin," and the "Alb Kümmel" in a clay jug conclude the series.

Old trees only remain standing if the fruit is paid for

Over 20,000 high-stem, landscape-defining trees bear the fruit that is processed here, and Manufaktur Jörg Geiger consciously pays more than the market price for it. Meadow orchard fruit does not pay off otherwise, because a newly planted high-stem tree takes twenty years to bear significant fruit, and anyone who waits that long needs to know why they are doing it.

The old varieties provide more acidity, more aroma, and above all, more tannins, and precisely those give a non-alcoholic beverage the structure that alcohol usually contributes. The Voralb region, where the fruit comes from, is the only European meadow orchard area to have been included in the BirdLife International network of Important Bird Areas. The wryneck, the little owl, and the collared flycatcher are considered the flagship species of this meadow orchard landscape.

The "Future-Oriented Meadow Orchard Cultivation" research project shows that these are more than just declarations of intent. Together with the University of Hohenheim, the Competence Center for Fruit Growing on Lake Constance, the Swabian Meadow Orchard Paradise, and the BUND, the manufactory sought rootstocks that can withstand "pear decline," a disease affecting perry pear trees. The closing conference took place in November 2024 at Hohenheim Palace.

The house has been collecting awards for decades, and some of them are for bottles that are on our shelves. The house's apple vermouth won gold at the Cider World Award in 2019; the ratings can be read on the producer's awards page, manufaktur-joerg-geiger.de/UEber-Uns/Preise-Auszeichnungen/.

Classics, numbers, degrees, and how they fit together

Anyone standing in front of this shelf first sees many bottles and little order. Yet there is one. The classics have descriptive names and are available year-round, while the seasonal varieties are filled once a year and then gone. The cuvées carry a number instead of a name because they are compositions of several juices, herbs, and spices. They are served at eight degrees Celsius at wedding tables, on holidays, and throughout Dry January.

The degree numbers from 32 to 37 belong to the dealcoholized wines and refer to the grape variety behind them; "ViSecco" represents the same concept under a different name. The P-series uses abbreviations: BP for pear in the port wine style, AP for apple, KP for cherry; these dessert wines are served at the end of a meal where a port wine would otherwise be. The occasion, not the number, usually determines which line is opened.

The TeaSecco has its own line with its own design, in which a tea extract meets fruit. There are two varieties, one with a pink and the other with a light blue label, and because both carry the same drawing of a dachshund, they can be distinguished solely by color. In the glass, the Rosé is a clear, light red with a hint of salmon, the Weiss as light as straw.

Schlat lies where the meadow orchards begin

Schlat is a village in the Göppingen district, located at the Albtrauf, where the meadows lie between three hundred and four hundred fifty meters above sea level and the largest contiguous meadow orchard area in Central Europe begins. Tree giants over a hundred years old stand there, and when the blossom covers the slopes in spring, you can see from afar where they stand; the manufactory itself is located on Eschenbacherstraße.

In Schlat, Jörg Geiger taught us what "räs" means, the Swabian word for the astringency of tannin-rich old varieties, puckering and tart, the opposite of table fruit. Once you have heard this vocabulary, you understand why such pears do not belong in a fruit bowl and yet bring exactly what a non-alcoholic sparkling drink needs.

The herbs for the Weißduftig are grown by herbalist Dieter Gaissmayer in Illertissen, Swabia – lemon verbena, southernwood, winter savory, and pineapple sage. The rose petals for the Rosenzauber come from the Sonnenhof in Bad Boll, which also supplies the wormwood.

If you are wavering between the varieties, take the tasting pack with the classics and set them side by side on the table. One evening, a few glasses, and you will know which variety is yours.