The winery is located in the municipality of Sonnendorf (near Bad Sulza) in the German wine-growing region of
Saale-Unstrut. It was founded in 1992 as the first winery in Thuringia. The Burkhardt family and the town of Bad Sulza have owned the estate since 1997. The winery has been managed by Andreas Clauß (winemaker and technician for viticulture and cellar management) since 1994. Wolfram Proppe is the cellar master. In recent years, the winery has been modernised and a wine shop and tasting rooms have been created. The vineyards cover 42 hectares. The
Sonnenberg (Bad Sulza) and
Tamsel (Auerstedt) vineyards are cultivated on the slopes of the Ilm valley and, since 2008, the historic terraces of the single vineyard Schlossberg (Dornburg), below the Dornburg castles, have also been cultivated. In spring 2010, a new site was established in Kunitz near Jena with 2.7 hectares of vineyards. The white wine varieties Müller-Thurgau (20%), Kerner, Gutedel, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Traminer, Muscat, Auxerrois, Ortega, Scheurebe, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are cultivated to 75%, and the red wine varieties Regent, Cabernet Dorsa, Frühburgunder and Pinotin to 25%.
In the vineyard, we work in an environmentally friendly way with balanced nutrient supply, partial
cover crop, targeted, moderate
plant protection and expertly performed manual work on the vine with the aim of healthy, ripe grapes. The white wines are stored for a long time on the
fine yeast and are matured in stainless steel tanks, a small part in traditional wooden barrels. The red wines are traditionally macerated and then pass through the BSA. The best wines of a vintage are marketed under the designation "Excellence". The winery's trademark is the missing corner of the label. Bottle-fermented sparkling wines are also produced and noble brandies (marc, fruit brandies) from the winery's own meadow orchards are offered. Around 200,000 bottles of wine are bottled and marketed annually.
