Rien sans peine. Nothing without pain, printed on every bottle (and cork) produced by Sven Enderle and Florian Moll, who together make up Enderle & Moll. Sven and Florian work in the foothills of the Black Forest in Baden, Germany- more specifically, the tiny village of Münchweier, just 20 minutes East of the Rhine. Although they showed little concern for mainstream trends and acceptance, E&M have produced what are widely regarded as some of the best pinot noir and white wines in Germany, earning them a serious cult following.

Friends from wine school in 2003, they went on to work for other producers before coming back together to make their first vintage in 2007. They were, and continue to be, a small operation. Starting out of a former potato cellar and using an old basket press, they remain very low-tech and produce their wines from just 7 ha (2.5 of which they own, the rest rented), farming everything organically and following biodynamic principles. Everything is done by hand and all wine is bottled unfined & unfiltered.

In a country that is one of the largest Pinot producers, E&M are regarded as having some of the best – light but deep, structured & beautiful. And their whites, all macerated on skins at least for some time, are also magical. Their Weissburgunder & Grauburgunder are awesome, but we find ourselves consistently drawn to their Müller-Thurgau- whether it’s their entry level “Müller”, “Pur”, or the  “Buntsandstein” (red sandstone). In Central Europe, Müller-Thurgau, a high-yielding and early ripening cross of Riesling and Madeleine Royale, was often overlooked because of its regional popularity in making simple commercial wine, but in the hands of E&M, it sings.

This is a small operation bucking regional trends for larger commercial production, making some extremely refined and unique wines- dudes are cool as hell:)

Müller has the rare distinction of being comprised not only of estate fruit from Baden — 45 year old vines of Müller Thurgau planted on limestone — but also fruit from a respected organic grower in the Mosel planted on schist. Undoubtedly this accounts for the wine’s extra blast of energy and high-toned kick. The fruit is macerated for 3 days on the skins before a soft pressing into stainless steel for an 8-9 month evelage on the lees. Lightly filtered and contains a tiny amount of sulfur added only at bottling.

-vom Boden

Click here for an excellent profile of Enderle & Moll from 2013, thanks to Wine Terroirs.