Weingut Bertram-Baltes is a 7 hectares large holding in Dernau, Ahr. Julia Baltes and Benedikt Baltes are the owners, and the winemakers, who cultivate the vineyards according to organic principles.

The top wines of Spätburgunder Dernauer Goldkaul, Spätburgunder Marienthaler Trotzenberg, and Spätburgunder Dernauer Pfarrwingert.

The wines crafted by the Baltes family resemble their terroirs at their best via their aroma, colour and tannins.

Spätburgunder Dernauer Goldkaul 2018 scored 97, Spätburgunder Marienthaler Trotzenberg 2018 scored 96+, and Spätburgunder Dernauer Pfarrwingert 2018 scored 96 by the Wine Advocate.

Robert Parker’s tasting notes on the Spätburgunder Dernauer Goldkaul 2018: “[...] The bouquet is super pure, reductive, floral and very fine, with delicate spicy notes of tobacco, dark berries and lemon peel. Juicy, silky and salty, with abnormal fine tannins and a citrusy salinity, this is an untamed yet intense and tightly structured Ahr Pinot with remarkable finesse and aging potential. Enormously long and bursting of tension. Simply a great Pinot Noir, not only in the German context.”

Julia Baltes and Benedikt Baltes are the owners, and the winemakers of Weingut Bertram-Baltes.

Gottfried Sebastian founded the small Dernau winery at the foot of the Pfarrwingert in 1910. Julia Bertram is from a dynasty of vignerons. She grew up in Dernau and obtained a degree in viticulture and oenology in Geisenheim. In 2014 Julia crafted her first vintage out of a 1.3 hectares large vineyard, under Benedikt Baltes's control, to whom she is now married.

Benedikt Baltes sold his shares in the Klingenberg winery and is now managing the winery in the Ahr with his wife Julia Bertram. The winery is now called Weingut Bertram-Baltes.

The parcels of Weingut Bertram-Baltes have been cultivated according to organic principles since 2019. Sustainability is one of the main goals in the vineyard, and in certain sites, sheep are being used for weed control. The vineyards are located in Dernauer Hardtberg, Dernauer Pfarrwingert and Dernauer Goldkaul sites, Mayschosser Mönchberg, in the Marienthal Trotenberg, in the Ahrweiler sites of Forstberg and Rosenthal and in the Neuenahrer Sonnenberg. In addition to Spätburgunder, there is a very small plot of Frühburgunder.

The winemaking is characterized by elegant extraction: there is no punching-down, just a pump-over once a day. The period of maceration is with a maximum of 14 days, which is relatively short, and the wines are aged in large barrels made from German oak.