Winemaker: Emily (Quebec, Canada) & Christoph (Württemberg, Germany)
Where: Hüttenheim, Franken, Germany
Size: 4,5 ha
Main Varieties: Silvaner, Regent, Domina, Pinot Gris, Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus, Pinot Meunier, Johanniter, Muscaris & Pinot Blanc
Certifications: Organic with ABCERT DE-ÖKO-006.
Quick note: Holistic farming, still cider and vermouth, garden botanicals and a kitchen garden, organically certified since 1991!
Wein Goutte is a beautiful example of how wine can connect people, places and cultures. Wein Goutte is the shared life and work of Emily, originally from Quebec, and Christoph, from the south of Germany. The two met while working in Burgenland and eventually settled together in Franken, where they now farm, ferment and live closely connected to the land around them. Originally joining an existing winery and farm, which had operated as organic since 1991, in 2025 they got the opportunity to purchase and take over the entirety of the farm.
Both of them come from food-driven backgrounds, Emily worked as a wine writer and sommelier, while Christoph studied oenology and viticulture. Before wine became their full time focus, both trained as chefs and worked in kitchens for over a decade, something that still clearly informs their sensibility around flavour, balance and seasonality, so a red line threads its way through their work, wines that behave beautifully with food, and produce that supports this!
When we first visited them in Franken, they had just begun establishing a market garden alongside their vineyards, growing food for themselves and their local community, preserving produce, and exploring alternative ways of eating and farming. This mindset carries directly into their drinks, which extends well beyond wine, into cider, apple wine and vermouth, all produced from fruit and botanicals produced in their farm and region.
Their vineyards cover 4,5 hectares in the gently rolling hilly landscape of the Steigerwald subregion of Franken on nearly exclusively gipskeuper, planted with a mix of classic regional varieties such as Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, Bacchus, Domina, Johanniter and Regent, alongside many hybrid varieties planted both by the original owners, but also added to by Emily and Christoph in recent years. In fact it can definitely be said they are both PiWi enthusiasts, with 1,7 out of 4,5 hectares being hybrids! The farming is organic, guided by curiosity and a constant search for better solutions that respect both the plant and environment.
A particularly exciting part of Wein Goutte is their embrace of the region’s fruit traditions. Apples play a central role in their production, appearing as both cider and apple wine, expanding the idea of what a small wine farm can be. They continue the exploration with Wermoutte, their vermouth made from a base of wine that changes colour depending on the batch number, homemade grappa, and herbs grown in their garden.
We were always impressed with the independence and drive that Emily and Christoph had, and we have faith in their ability to make something great from a region with such potential. Their work with permaculture, farming and viticulture is quite clearly ‘farming for the future’, rejecting the monocultural system that has existed in the more recent decades.
