Gerd Stepp
Germany
Gerd's Wines
- Germany
- 7Â wines
- 5Â styles
Highly regarded German winemaker, with 25 years experience making wine all over the world
- Gerd is a really groovy German winemaker who rose to the top of a massive blind tasting of German Pinot Noirs judged by our very own trusty Angels.
- A globe-trotting, award-winning winemaker (and marathon runner!) Gerd, presents to you his fine wine from the Pfalz.
- Gerd is a classic German winemaker and everything he does knocks it completely out of the park.
Gerd Stepp's Story
Gerd Stepp's Story
"I grew up in Bad Durkheim, Pfalz, where my family's vineyards are located. Here, as a child, I spent many days with my parents in the vineyards and later as a teenager I was helping them with pruning the vines, harvesting and worked during summer on the vineyard's canopy and driving tractors. I always knew that I would continue the family tradition of viticulture.
After finishing my studies I headed to New Zealand, where I worked for a year. This was a fantastic experience and also improved my English dramatically. Returning to Germany I worked for two years in research at Neustadt, which helped me to understand soil management better, and also increased my knowledge on various vineyard management systems.
I went on to work in many other places over the years - winemaker at the largest estate in Zimbabwe, then on to Nigeria, then Italy (Fattoria Ispoli, an organic wine estate in Mercatale V.P. Tuscany), then Stellenbosch in South Africa, the UK and finally back to the Pfalz. It was a fabulous change from one reality to another - I love the diversity and seasonality of the work in the vineyards and winery - and one thing I have learnt working in so many places is to allow the diversity and expression of grape and origin to reflect in the wines.
My wines are from 'hand-selected' vineyards in the Pfalz, vinified and bottled in a modern yet minimalistic way to ensure flavour intensity, balance and a vinous quality. I'm really pleased to have this opportunity to share my wines with you!
My greatest achievements include 2h32 in my first Marathon and winning the Two Oceans (56km) overseas category. But working with wine for over 25 years I can really say that this is possibly the best job in the world. Wine certainly is a fun product to be involved with, its cultural heritage, sophistication and future possibilities are all mind-boggling."
Gerd's Archangels
Wine Aficionado, traveler, and writer, Elizabeth currently lives on the beautiful Upper Cumberland Plateau of TN with her husband Tim and their wine-loving Italian Mastiff, Shadow, who relishes a lap or two of wine, especially a nice dry red. Author of an award-winning, unique wine and story book: Wine Stories: A Little Sip of Italy
