Böhme & Töchter Winery
“The region is at the heart of our wines.”
Marika and Sandro Sperk
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Böhme & Töchter is one of a small group of estates that have significantly transformed the landscape of the Saale-Unstrut region in recent years. The winery is situated in Gleina, somewhat off the beaten track from the better-known wine villages along the Unstrut, and is now run by Marika (née Böhme) and her husband Sandro Sperk. Since 2022, the family-run estate, covering around six hectares, has been a member of the VDP. Its origins date back to 1986, when Marika’s father, Frank Böhme, together with his father Werner, planted their first vines whilst the GDR was still in existence. Wine has therefore been a family affair from the very beginning. Marika and Sandro later completed their viticulture training in Geisenheim and gained experience outside the region before returning to Gleina. It was during this time, in particular, that they came to realise the value of their homeland and their small family business. Today, they both describe Gleina as a ‘rough diamond’ that needs to be developed further with new ideas.
Nevertheless, Gleina remains the deliberate centre of the winery. This is where the family lives, where the cellar is located, and from where the vineyards are managed. For their top wines, however, Böhme & Töchter head a few kilometres further to Freyburg. The Schweigenberg, which forms part of the Freyburger Edelacker single vineyard, is crucial to this. The steep, south-facing terraces are characterised by shell limestone, which in places meets natural limestone after just around 50 centimetres. The mild microclimate, influenced by the River Unstrut, and the heat-retaining soils create conditions in which even Mediterranean plants such as wild thyme thrive. Consequently, the wines often display a combination of chalky minerality, delicate fruit and herbaceous spice.
The Burgundy varieties in particular play a special role at Böhme & Töchter. Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir and, above all, Chardonnay are the estate’s key grape varieties for Marika and Sandro. The family planted the Chardonnay as early as 2008, with a pioneering spirit, on the challenging steep slopes of the Schweigenberg. Today, the Chardonnay from the Freyburger Edelacker is one of the estate’s most important wines. For Sandro Sperk, it is the wine that conveys the complexity of the vineyard and its terroir most directly into the glass.
In addition to the Edelacker, the family cultivates further vineyards around Freyburg and Gleina. These include the Freyburg Mühlberg as well as the Zscheiplitz Himmelreich. The aim is not to homogenise the different soils and exposures, but to bring out their distinct characteristics as clearly as possible. Sandro Sperk sums up this philosophy with the phrase: ‘The region is in the very nature of our wines.’ Manual labour and a respectful approach to the vineyards are just as central to this as the quest for a distinctive expression of the Saale-Unstrut region.
In the cellar, Marika and Sandro combine the experience of the two preceding generations with a significantly more modern approach. Stainless steel remains a natural part of their repertoire, whilst at the same time they are increasingly relying on long maceration periods, spontaneous fermentation and ageing in oak barrels. Much of this is done not so much according to a fixed formula as based on experience and, as Marika Sperk puts it, on ‘gut feeling’. The aim is not to produce technically perfect wines, but dry, straightforward and structured wines that tell the story of the microclimate and soils of their origin.
Important inspiration has also come from exchanges with other ambitious winemakers in the region. In particular, the collaboration with the Breitengrad51 winemakers’ group has helped to sharpen their own profile and develop new ideas. Marika and Sandro do not see tradition and innovation as opposites anyway: tried-and-tested family knowledge is combined with new techniques and their own experiences. Added to this is a family connection that has ensured the design is just right. Marika’s sister is married to the founder of a design studio.
Their approach is evident beyond the cellar too. Among the family’s upcoming projects is the careful restoration of the historic four-sided farmstead in Gleina. At the same time, Marika and Sandro wish to contribute to the preservation of the labour-intensive steep-terrace viticulture along the Saale and Unstrut – the very cultural landscape that makes many of their finest wines possible in the first place.
Böhme & Töchter thus epitomises the new identity of the Saale-Unstrut region: rooted in an ancient wine-growing landscape, yet by no means nostalgic. The wines are precise, dry and full of character, often characterised by limestone, herbal notes and a crisp acidity. At the same time, they demonstrate that the region is capable of much more than delicate, light-bodied white wines. Chardonnay and the Burgundy varieties, in particular, now possess an impressive depth and distinctiveness here.
© Images: Weingut Böhme & Töchter