GERD STEPP

Gerd Stepp grew up in Bad Dürkheim in the Mittelhaardt of the Pfalz. As a child he watched and helped his parents tend their vines and make wine. He would help them prune the vines, harvest the grapes by hand and – his favourite task – drive the tractor. Gerd always knew that wherever his career took him – and like so many of us he started in Oddbins in London – he would return home. Today, Gerd farms the family’s vineyards and runs the little winery, also buying some grapes from like-minded growers in the region. Having returned to Bad Dürkheim after making wines around the globe, his technical winemaking skills combined with commercial experience allow him to produce a range of wines which are both great value and especially good and true expressions of these grape varieties.

“After finishing my viticultural and winemaking studies, I felt that I needed some international experience and headed to New Zealand, where I worked for a year.  Returning to Germany I worked for two years at the Research Institute in Neustadt, which helped me to understand soil management better, and also increased my knowledge of vineyard management systems.  After two years I caught again the travel bug and headed out to Zimbabwe to become winemaker at the largest wine estate there. Three years later I went from Zimbabwe to Lagos in Nigeria, where I helped to set up a bottling site near the port of Lagos. After these two rather ‘exotic’ wine countries I went to Fattoria Ispoli, an organic wine estate in Tuscany, to make Chianti Classico wines.

After a variety of other winemaking roles, I decided to return to my roots in 2010, and started to make my own wines in Pfalz. With my wines I want them to retain their authentic and true character of origin. They are vinified and bottled in a modern yet minimalistic way to ensure flavour intensity and balance with an authentic vinous quality. Part of my long-term aim is to ensure that the vineyard’s soils keep their natural fertility and quality for the following generations. This requires more attention to the soils’ needs, especially with climate change, and to reduce chemical fertilizers and pesticides and instead increase and maintain the soils’ organic matter and biodiversity.”