(Claude Auguste / Manfred Klimek – editorial team / animated pic: Runwayml)
We can reproach young people who were once ourselves. For drinking less wine, for example. For preferring Aperol, hard seltzer or simply staying entirely alcohol-free – or choosing cannabis and MDMA over wine. For posting labels but not discussing vintages.
But we can also be honest: the wine industry has not made things easy for them for decades. And how would we react today? Is it wise to call only for pure doctrine: to taste your way through and find your own style? My generation still had the time and money for that. But Gen Z? “Can’t be done” – that’s what they say. And it probably really “can’t be done”. Acknowledging the facts helps.
Because between Baroque typefaces, vineyard classifications, Prädikat levels and sermonising seriousness, little room has remained for curiosity. Anyone standing in front of a German wine shelf in their early twenties does not need a hunger for education – they need an entry point. And that is exactly where Bruno from Kartäuserhof comes in.
I was sceptical. Another project like this, I thought. Another “young” label trying desperately to be laid-back. But Bruno is different. Perhaps because it is not backed by a start-up, but by a winery almost a thousand years old. Kartäuserhof is Trier, is Riesling, is history. And precisely for that reason, Bruno does not seem strained or contrived, but surprisingly laid-back.
No pandering. No sugar bombs. No embarrassing claims. Just four wines at €11.90, made clear, named clearly, thought through clearly. And that is almost revolutionary in Germany.
Pinot Blanc – The diplomatic introduction
They could have taken the easy route and focused only on Riesling. Instead, there is also a Pinot Blanc.
A clever move. Pinot Blanc is internationally comprehensible, requires less explanation and is less burdened by “fear of acidity”. In the glass, it shows freshness, a little fine creaminess and structure without weight. Not an inconsequential terrace wine, but cleanly made, precise and easy to engage with.
For anyone still cautiously approaching Moselle Riesling, it is an elegant door-opener (and actually more than that). And for traditionalists, a small disruption: Kartäuserhof can do things differently too. The danger is that the Pinot Blanc may permanently appeal more to younger customers than the more complicated Riesling.
Riesling Dry – Serious, but not strict
The dry Riesling is, after all, the centrepiece. And here you immediately notice where Bruno comes from.
That Ruwer coolness, that clear, almost austere minerality with nothing sweetish about it. Taut, lively, with invigorating acidity. No flexing of its muscles, no alcohol statement. Just a wine with drive.
If you want to give young consumers, including those interested in the Riesling avant-garde, some credit, then give them something like this. Not a soft-pedalled compromise, but character – simply without the pathos.
Riesling Kabinett – Finally light & easy again
Perhaps it is ironic that a Kabinett should seem more modern today than many a high-end dry wine.
Moderate alcohol, fine fruit sweetness, vibrating acidity – and suddenly it all fits perfectly into an age that talks about balance. This Bruno Kabinett is not a product of nostalgia. It seems remarkably contemporary. Easy-drinking, precise, with that dancing interplay that once made the Moselle world-famous.
You cannot help wondering: why did we make things so complicated in the meantime?
We did not drink the rosé. Not because of any reservations, but because we were just a bit too stupid to order that one as well.
What distinguishes Bruno is not its claimed youthfulness; it is the matter-of-fact way it claims that youthfulness. No one here is trying to “occupy” Generation Z. No one explains the Moselle to them. No one sells history as a moral obligation. Instead, there are four wines that can be drunk without attending a seminar. That is the Kartäuserhof’s real achievement.
I do not believe that Bruno alone will bring a generation to wine. But I do believe that it shows how it can be done: well-made wines with a hint of great wine history – and a price that does not put people off.
For a house with almost a thousand years of history, that is remarkably unpretentious.
But does it work? We hope so!