Pinot Gris Tonmergel, a village wine from red stone
The 2024 Klumpp Pinot Gris Tonmergel is a dry organic village wine from Baden, grown on red clay marl. Ripe apple, plum, and a stony, cool core. Not a simple estate wine, but a dense village wine with racy character.
The 2024 Klumpp Pinot Gris Tonmergel from the Klumpp winery is a village wine from 30-year-old vines, which are deeply rooted in red clay marl. Ripe, rosy-cheeked apples and juicy plums meet a mineral-cool, stony core and a subtle hint of spice from the wood. Fruit and stone, wonderfully united. Where the estate wine shows fruit and drinkability, the village wine delves deeper, telling the story of its soil.
The name reveals its origin: clay marl (Tonmergel), a heavily layered soil with an extreme clay content that forces the vine to root deeply. The site forms a small basin into which cool winds from the neighboring forests are drawn—this is exactly what gives the wine its freshness and its racy profile.
Such extreme sites are rare, and the Klumpp winery gives this one its own stage with this village wine—a wine that shows what is possible in the Kraichgau region when you take the soil seriously.
Apple, plum, and a stony core
On the nose, ripe, rosy-cheeked apples and juicy plums, accompanied by a cool, stony core and a subtle spice.
On the palate, the village wine is dense and profound, carried by a racy acidity and a fine creaminess from the long aging on the lees. Fruit and stone, spice and character—a wine with tension that brings the minerality of its soil directly into the glass. That is what provenance tastes like.
In the glass, it shows a rich yellow; on the palate, the stony quality lingers long, carried by a cool minerality reminiscent of wet river stone. A wine that doesn't clamor for attention, but earns it.
A village wine for fish and roast veal
The Pinot Gris Tonmergel is a food companion for fine dining, from fish and veal to creamy risottos.
It pairs well with pan-fried zander, loin of veal with morels, asparagus risotto, and aged hard cheeses. The village wine appears purest at 11 to 13 degrees in a large glass, where the fruit and stone can unfold. A char with brown butter receives the necessary counterpoint to the butter from its cool minerality. It is also a delight with creamy goat cheese or sautéed mushrooms.
For those who would like to try the village wine alongside an everyday wine, we suggest the Klumpp Pinot Gris estate wine—the difference in site is easy to taste in the glass.
60 percent aged in tonneau
Markus and Andreas Klumpp harvest only 51 hectoliters per hectare here to ensure density and ripeness. The brothers manage the winery in Bruchsal together, certified organic and with great care for every single site.
The grapes are hand-picked in three passes during the early morning hours to preserve the fruit aromatics. At the winery, the grapes and mash reach the fermentation tanks without pumps, solely through gravity, ensuring nothing is crushed.
40 percent ferments in stainless steel tanks, while 60 percent ages for six months in 500-liter tonneaus on the lees—the longer the lees aging, the more fullness and creaminess the dense village wine gains. You can find it alongside the Klumpp Weiherberg Pinot Noir among the wines from the Klumpp winery. Hats off.
Pinot Gris Tonmergel – a wine and its values
- Origin: White wine from Germany
- Region: Baden
- Winery: Klumpp
- Organic wine
- Grape variety: Pinot Gris
- 12.5% vol. alcohol
- 6.5 g/l acidity
- 1.8 g/l residual sugar
Organic inspection body DE-ÖKO-039 – German Agriculture