In the hills above the river Rems, Andi Knauss farms more than a hundred separate parcels scattered across Strümpfelbach and its neighboring villages, treating each one as its own small project rather than blending them into anonymity.
Backstory
For earlier generations of the Knauss family, wine was a sideline. Andi knew early that he wanted to be a vigneron. After wine school and a formative stage in Austria, where he learned to farm organically and to look after the soil, he took over the family estate in Strümpfelbach in 2004 as the fourth generation.
Within a decade he had turned a quiet domain into one of the most closely watched names in Württemberg.
The Region
The estate sits in the Remstal, east of Stuttgart in Württemberg, southern Germany. This is red-wine country by German standards, historically planted to Trollinger and Lemberger, with steep slopes rising above the Rems. Knauss works vineyards around Strümpfelbach and Schnait at roughly 300 to 400 meters of elevation.
Vineyards & Farming
Knauss farms around 14 hectares spread over those hundred-plus plots. The soils shift with altitude and include Gipskeuper, marl, and several sandstones (Schilfsandstein, Kieselsandstein, Stubensandstein) layered one over another. His Rieslings grow on very alkaline, limestone-rich ground. He moved the estate to organic viticulture, working the vines by hand and tending the soil rather than spraying it clean.
Winemaking
The cellar follows the vineyard. Fermentations run on native yeast, and sulfur is kept to a minimum across the range, with several cuvées bottled with none at all. Aging happens in stainless steel, used 600-liter barrels, and large oak tonneaux. Experiments include zero-dosage sparkling wines and a Trollinger made without sulfur, added yeast, sugar, or any other input.
Production runs to roughly 75,000 bottles a year. Alongside the more classic varieties, Knauss grows Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, Merlot, Zweigelt, and Portugieser, giving him a wide palette of old German and Austrian grapes to draw on.
The Wines
The reds center on Trollinger, Lemberger, and Pinot Noir, often light, savory, and energetic. The whites cover Riesling, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, with the Rieslings showing the chalky tension of their alkaline soils. Site-named bottlings from places like Altenberg, Wohlfahrtsberg, and Nonnenberg sit alongside playful, additive-free experiments, giving the range both a serious and a mischievous side. The most radical cuvée, a Trollinger made with nothing added at all, sits at one end of a spectrum that still includes precise, terroir-driven village wines at the other.
