Dominik Mueller

My wife, our daughter, our dog and I spent a wonderful holiday at Lake Constance in southern Germany. They also grow wine there - lucky us! The wine-growing area includes Baden in the western part of Lake Constance around Überlingen and Constance as well as Württemberg towards Lindau in the eastern part of the lake, where we stayed. There you will find vineyards, especially in the municipality of Nonnenhorn, although apples are predominantly grown there.

With the opportunity in mind to (finally) try something new again after a long period of abstinence, I found the Kurek winery. Based in Nonnenhorn (which is actually in Bavaria, although the wine-growing region is part of Württemberg), the small business now cultivates around five hectares of vineyards. In terms of area, the focus is still on apple cultivation, but under the new generation around Jonas Kurek, the winery is increasingly devoting itself to the production of single-vineyard wines. A lot has obviously been invested in the past few years. A modern new building that is reminiscent of a wine barrel, with a wine shop on the ground floor, a stylish wine bar above and a roof terrace at the top. See the photo on the left.

We were in the wine bar in the evening. Very good food, high-quality products simply presented. The wine bar is called "pi" and I can recommend it to anyone who is in the area. Or take a look online. The focus of the wine list is on Germany and France. Mature wines are also occasionally served by the glass and the service can answer all questions in depth.

I first drank the 2011 Nierstein from Kühling-Gillot. Great on the nose (honey and dried apricot), but the taste had a prominent acidity with a slight bitter finish. Developed, but still went well with the smoked salmon variations.

Then the 2021 Nonnenhorner Seehalde Spätburgunder from Kurek. This is the winery's top red wine. Noticeable use of wood, but cool in appearance. A good first impression, although not a real hit for me in combination with the really good tartare, which is served here with a lot of acidity. I didn't concentrate enough on the wine to give a detailed description, along with the food and conversations, but I took bottles with me and will report on them at a later date. Look out for the tasting note, which I will link to here once published. Today I wanted to start by reporting on the wine bar, because I thought it was wonderful what they dared to do here.