Gaudenz – Red Wine 2023

Knipser Gaudenz, a Palatinate red wine with South Tyrolean roots

The 2023 Knipser Gaudenz is a dry red wine cuvée made from Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Dornfelder from the VDP winery Knipser in Laumersheim, aged for 18 months in used barriques. Juicy, finely spiced, and velvety. Not a heavy, oak-dominated wine, nor a generic everyday red, but an estate wine that pairs just as well with a venison ragout as it does with a charcuterie board.

Knipser Gaudenz 2023 is the entry point into the red wine world of the Knipser winery in Laumersheim, Palatinate, and bears the name of an ancestor who was the master builder of Merano in the 16th century. A red wine cuvée from three grape varieties, vinified dry, with ripe cassis on the nose and velvety tannins on the palate. Let yourself be surprised by how much barrique expertise can be found in an everyday estate wine.

In the glass, it glows with a dark ruby red and offers scents of ripe cassis, blackberry, and juicy black cherry, with a hint of bay leaf and dark chocolate underneath, stemming from 18 months in wood. On the palate, the Gaudenz is juicy, finely spiced, and velvety, with soft tannins and a finish that lingers pleasantly. This is what the Palatinate tastes like when the evenings grow shorter.

A red wine for game, charcuterie, and pizza

The Gaudenz is an uncomplicated yet sophisticated red wine with a medium body and soft tannins, making it as perfect for game dishes as it is for a hearty Palatinate snack platter.

This red wine pairs wonderfully with venison ragout with cranberries, roasted duck, and anything off the grill. Enjoy it with a venison pâté with porcini mushrooms on farmhouse bread; the forest aromas meet beautifully in both the glass and on the plate. For a more rustic touch, slice some Tuscan wild boar salami to go with it; the cassis fruit stands up effortlessly to the spice.

It works well with a meal, such as braised beef or pizza with salsiccia, as it never tries to take center stage. A Knipser red wine for evenings when you don’t need an occasion, just good company.

First the Clarette, then the Gaudenz

The grapes for the Gaudenz grow on calcareous marl soils around Laumersheim; they are hand-harvested, destemmed, and fermented on the skins for about 14 days.

A portion of the light-colored "free-run" juice is drawn off and fermented into Clarette Rosé. What remains in the fermentation tank has more skins per liter of must, resulting in more color, more fruit, and more structure. The simpler the math: the less juice, the denser the red wine.

After fermentation, the wine is pressed gently, and then the Gaudenz ages for 18 months in used French oak barriques. Used barrels have long since given up their most intense wood notes, so the oak here supports rather than overpowers. Only after this process is the wine bottled.

Three Knipsers, one cellar since 1876

The Knipser winery has been managed by the family in Laumersheim since 1876, today by Volker and Werner Knipser, along with Werner's son Stephan, who has been co-responsible for the cellar since 2005.

The family's roots lie in South Tyrol. Gaudenz Knipser was a master builder and council member in Merano in the 16th century; in 1582, Archduke Ferdinand in Innsbruck granted the family coat of arms, which the family still uses today. A descendant moved to the Palatinate in 1615. The Gaudenz is therefore not a marketing name, but a family greeting spanning four centuries.

In the mid-1980s, brothers Volker and Werner switched their production to red wine and barriques—a bold move at the time. Admission to the VDP followed in 1993, and later multiple wins at the German Red Wine Awards. "We make wines, not grand speeches," say Volker, Werner, and Stephan Knipser on their website. The Gault&Millau calls the Gaudenz a perfect restaurant wine and awards the estate five out of five grapes in the 2026 Wine Guide. They are right.

If you like the Gaudenz, keep exploring the wines from the Knipser winery, from the Blauer Spätburgunder to the festive Cuvée X.

Serving tip

Our tip: open the Knipser Gaudenz half an hour before the meal and pour it into a wide-bowled red wine glass at 16 to 18 degrees Celsius, which brings the cassis and black cherry to the fore. A reliable companion for venison pâté, a charcuterie board with salami and mountain cheese, or tray-baked pizza. Once opened, it will keep for two to three days in the fridge if re-sealed. Stored lying down in a dark place, it will keep for the next three to five years.

Gaudenz – a wine and its values

• Origin: Wine from Germany
• Region: Palatinate
• Grape varieties: Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Dornfelder
• Screw cap
• 12.5% vol. alcohol
• 6.0 g/l acidity
• 0.2 g/l residual sugar