Once upon a time, a European BMX champion was running a small estate in Swabia, at the farthest southern end of Germany. Jochen could hardly be farther removed from the staid, landed traditions of his more Northern neighbors. His dry, terroir saturated wines from a variety of ancient soils on the hills around Kernen in Remstal have similarly little in common with historical conceptions of “German Wine.” These are, first and foremost, Swabian wines, steeped in the traditions of a region that has long remained outside the national mainstream.

Jochen’s family have farmed the land in Kernen, just outside of Stuttgart, for generations, growing fruit and making wine that, as with many Swabian vine growers, ended up in the bottles of the local co-op (the Remstalkellerei). Then, in 1997, Jochen and with the help of his wife Marion and father Segried decided to strike out on his own. True garagiste, the first two vintages of Beurer were litelay made in their garage.

In 2003 Jochen started experimenting with organic viticulture and spontaneous fermentations, converting fully to biodynamics over the next few years. And as these things have gone along, Jochen and his wines have found their own inimitable voice. He is a man who does things very much his own way, and that way yields some of the most remarkable, terroir expressive wines we've tasted. These are winds driven by signatures that could only come from his soils, a unique mixture of ancient lime and sandstone with the even older Keuper soils beneath that.

At Beurer everything begins in the scrupulously tended, biodynamically farmed vineyards, all in service of imbuing wines with a sort of life energy, if you will. Respect for nature and patience are reflected everywhere. Even in cool years, Jochen is inevitably the last to pick with multiple passes being the norm. Spontaneous fermentations follow their own course, usually including malolactic. Whereas some winemakers are anxious to rush wine through a “process,” with Jochen, patience is the key. Often the wines “nap” through the cold winter and continue to ferment into the spring. Elevages are similarly slow and careful, with wines being committed to bottle when – and only when – Jochen feels that the time is exactly right.

Besides being Swabian and the natural winemaking, another detail that makes Beurer unique is that he doesn't focus solely on Riesling, but embraces the wild and complicated diversity of Teutonic grapes and wines. The results are singular: a range of completely unforced yet strikingly intense wines that are long, structured and saturated with a sense of place.