Region & History

What does sparkling wine from Breisach have to do with Champagne? More than the name of this town on the Rhine might suggest, because the story begins in 1838 in Aÿ. There, two Germans, William Deutz and Peter-Joseph-Hubert Geldermann, founded a Champagne house under their joint names. Geldermann hailed from Aachen.

In the early 20th century, a branch of the house was established in Hagenau in Alsace. In 1924 it moved to Breisach, on the Baden side of the Rhine, operating as Sektkellerei Deutz & Geldermann. This later became the Privatsektkellerei Geldermann. The Champagne house Deutz still exists in Aÿ today, and the two firms have gone their separate ways ever since.

Since 2003, Geldermann has belonged to Rotkäppchen-Mumm, Germany's market leader in sparkling wine. According to the house, all of its sparkling wine is made using traditional bottle fermentation. This is unusual, since major German branded sparkling wines are typically fermented in pressurized tanks. In 2011, the cellar bottled around 2.3 million bottles.

A second address in Breisach works more behind the scenes. The Badischer Winzerkeller was founded in 1952 as the Zentralkellerei Badischer Winzergenossenschaften. Here, cooperatives join forces so their members can press and sell wine together. Sparkling wine is also part of the range, including the Schloss Munzingen brand.

At around 15,800 hectares, Baden is Germany's third-largest wine region, stretching about 250 kilometers from north to south. Sparkling wine from here may be sold as Sekt b.A. with Baden as its designated origin, provided it passes official certification. The term Crémant is also permitted, as long as the sparkling wine is made from hand-picked grapes with traditional bottle fermentation and the name of the origin is stated.