Staufen-Wettelbrunn doesn't appear on page one of any major wine guide. Weingut Löffler has never let that bother them — and their list of accolades speaks for itself: Staatsehrenpreis 2025 and 2022, ten times winner of the Baden regional wine award, three-time champion at the Mondial du Chasselas. If you're wondering what any of this has to do with alcohol-free wine, you'll find a concrete answer here.
22 hectares between the Black Forest and the Rhine — what the soil delivers
The Markgräflerland is a narrow strip of land south of Freiburg, wedged between the Black Forest and the Rhine. No glamour appellation, no media spotlight. But a climate Mediterranean enough to bring Gutedel, Spätburgunder and Weissburgunder to genuine ripeness — and soils that make it possible.
Löffler's vineyards sit on the slopes of Castellberg and Fohrenberg. Both are steep sites with loamy loess soils. These soils absorb heat and moisture during the day and release both overnight — an effect that drives grape ripeness evenly and keeps the aromatics stable. At Castellberg, historic dry-stone walls add another layer of microclimate influence while being maintained as part of the natural and cultural heritage.
Across these 22 hectares grow varieties that have shaped the Markgräflerland for centuries: Gutedel above all, the light white variety that has its true home here. Alongside it, Spätburgunder, Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder, Müller-Thurgau — and with Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, two varieties that show Löffler isn't looking only inward at the region.
The soil is the starting point. Everything that follows — cellar work, dealcoholisation, bottle — builds on what Castellberg and Fohrenberg provide. That's not a marketing formula; it's a production logic.
Wolfgang and Andreas Löffler: two cellar masters, one clear division of labour
The winery was founded in 1988 and is today run by brothers Wolfgang and Andreas Löffler as a GbR partnership. The division of responsibilities is precise: Wolfgang handles the vineyard and direct sales, while Andreas takes primary responsibility for the cellar and winemaking. Both are trained cellar masters.
Andreas Löffler's cellar philosophy can be described in three steps: gentle pressing, careful fermentation, sufficient resting time. Modern cellar technology serves to protect natural aromas — not to reshape them. That means: no shortcuts, no overworking, no intervention that masks the character of the grape.
In the vineyard, the estate follows the guidelines of environmentally responsible viticulture. The slopes are planted with cover crops to promote ecological balance across the sites. Yields are deliberately kept low — the goal is more concentrated fruit, not maximum volume.
Wolfgang Löffler recommends the Gutedel Kabinett as an expression of the Markgräfler way of life: light, fresh, fruity. Andreas stands behind the Cuvée Black For Rest, a white wine assemblage he describes as particularly distinctive in its composition. Two brothers, two signatures — but one shared foundation: the wine should show where it comes from.
In the Vinothek, Helga Löffler, Marina Bläsi and Roswitha Jägle advise guests and lead tastings. The Vinothek itself was comprehensively redesigned after more than 25 years of operation: a glass floor opens up a view into the barrique cellar below, a dry-stone wall echoes the terraced walls of the Castellberg, and a real vine grows inside the room.
The same grapes, one additional step: how the alcohol-free range is made
Löffler's alcohol-free wines don't begin somewhere different from the award-winning wines. They begin at the Castellberg and the Fohrenberg, with the same grapes, according to the same principles. Dealcoholisation is a subsequent step — not a separate production philosophy, not a distinct line with a distinct ambition.
That's an important distinction from many alcohol-free wines on the market, which are produced from second-choice grapes or with different base materials. At Löffler, the rule is: what goes into the alcohol-free bottle has the same origin as what wins state honours.
The dealcoholisation process itself is technically well established — no specific method is documented in Löffler's sources, so none is named here. What is documented: the step comes after fermentation, after resting, after ageing. The wine is finished before the alcohol is removed.
For the Gutedel, that means capturing the freshness, the loamy loess soils and the Mediterranean climate of the Markgräflerland in the bottle — without alcohol. For the Spätburgunder: the structure of the hillside site, the ripeness of the grapes, the character of the terroir.
The fact that Löffler won at the Mondial du Chasselas in 2014, 2015 and 2016 — with the Gutedel, the Chasselas grape — shows what the foundation is. Alcohol-free or not: the starting point is the same soil.
Thirty years of Straußi, a new Vinothek — and what that has to do with alcohol-free wine
In October 1995, Wolfgang, Christel and Bernd Löffler opened the Löffler-Straußi together with their families. Six tables, a short snack menu, wines from the estate. The launch fell during harvest — hectic, as family lore has it. In 2025, the Straußi turns thirty.
A Besenwirtschaft of this kind is not a marketing tool. It's a place where wine is experienced in the context of food, region and conversation. Vesper boards, Flammenkuchen, fish dishes from the Upper Rhine — these are the pairings that work with the light white wines from the Markgräflerland. And the same pairings apply to the non-alcoholic versions.
The new Vinothek, thoroughly redesigned after more than 25 years, makes the estate's ambitions tangible: the glass floor above the barrique cellar is not a decorative gesture but a statement about transparency. The dry-stone wall, echoing the terraced walls of the Castellberg, connects the interior with the vineyard. A real vine grows inside.
In this context, non-alcoholic wine doesn't function as a substitute but as an equal option. Whether you're sitting in the Straußi at lunch, doing a tasting at the Vinothek in the evening, or wanting a glass after a walk through the dry-stone terraces of the Castellberg — there's now a non-alcoholic choice that shares the same origin as the rest of the range.
That's the approach Löffler has built since 1988: no compromise on the base material, regardless of what ends up in the bottle.
Try Löffler's non-alcoholic Gutedel with a Flammenkuchen or a Vesper board — the freshness of the loess-soil site comes through even without alcohol. Visitors to the Vinothek in Staufen-Wettelbrunn can taste both versions side by side.
