Simply strive for the best.

Cultivate the natural ambition of all partners, whether they are concerned with winemaking, landscaping, or logistics. Handle things differently – it all starts with the idea for a wine, and then the environment that harmonises best with the idea is found and cultivated. In contrast to traditional wineries, this independence provides freedom in selecting the necessary locations, grape varieties and infrastructure. Together with like-minded people who are selectively sought out and won over to this approach, an environment is created step by step to achieve the common goal: taste.

the impulse

Wine.

Someone who has dedicated 40 years of his life to building a tourism business may find it hard let go of self-employment. The idea of growing and producing wine took root in 2016. At first it was an urge to do something coupled with curiosity. Little by little it turned into a challenge. The more often someone said “this can’t be done, and that can’t be done”, the stronger the ambition became to distil things that seemed complex down to the essential.

Instead of buying shares in a winery or acquiring one, the journey began with many conversations with wine-loving travelling companions as well as new friends and acquaintances all over the world. Possibilities were sketched out, pipe dreams were forged, courses were attended and observed, and experts were invited to private training. Winemaking is a handcrafting skill that must be developed. The principle here is quite clear: if possible, do it yourself.

the cornerstone

Recultivating.

In autumn 2016, the first of four vineyards was acquired on Majorca, just outside Montuiri. The region between Palma and Manacor has a long winegrowing tradition, although the acquired soils have long lain fallow. The terrain was recultivated in 2017 with six young varieties (autochthonous and new). The vines grow on rock rich in lime and clay whose colour ranges from red to almost white and lends the wine its intense, aromatic taste. To fast-forward: the first harvest in 2019 was highly successful and resulted in KORBUS #01 and KORBUS #02.

The “Bielefeld” project was initiated at the same time. Never to be forgotten: the look of the neighbours as the first grape harvest was celebrated in our own Bielefeld garden, with the huge steel containers jangling as they were dragged up the mountain. The result – KORBUS ZERO 2017 – was acceptable as a “garage wine”, but was not yet good enough. The KORBUS ZERO 2018, on the other hand, was such a successful cuvée of Sylvaner and Riesling that the decision was simple: the 2019 would become the first German KORBUS wine to be offered for sale.

the next step

Movement.

Inspired by success and the right encounters, projects in Franconia and Austria followed. And so did traditional soils, some of which already bore the right vines but needed to be recultivated here and there. More about that later. For the 2019 vintage, we can definitively say that KORBUS #03 – the final cuvée of Sylvaner and Riesling for the time being – fits with the original idea: it’s a wine that simply tastes really good. The next ideas are already in the maturing process – both literally and figuratively.