Outstanding Vinothek in Baden
Sometimes architecture succeeds in making not just a mark, but a bold exclamation point. It formulates a statement, clear and lean, that summarizes everything the client wants to communicate. ‘We have arrived in a new era’, is the statement from Weingut Abril in Bischoffingen. We have been cultivating a tradition since 1740, we have been guarding the knowledge of viticulture for an even longer time - but we live in the present. And feel responsible for what comes after us. The view also attests to this, from giant panoramic windows onto the green hills of the Kaiserstuhl, on which wine has thrived for more than a thousand years: This is where our roots lie, both symbolically and literally.
The architect Wolfgang Münzing, from Flein near Heilbronn, has created an uncompromisingly modern design for Eva Maria Köpfer, Daniel Hank and their young team in this gently undulating wine landscape: a stark, long, two-story high structure, almost austere, whilst unapologetically honest. It is a construction of solid concrete, clad with rust-hued Corten steel panels, which react sensitively to the surrounding air and moisture, blending with nature more and more harmoniously as time passes.
It was a risk. It takes courage to erect an angular new building in the middle of the vineyards, on the edge of an idyllic village, where generation after generation have passed on their knowledge, values and traditions. Nevertheless, it works. Perhaps precisely because of this juxtaposition, as the world around has also changed, setting new requirements and offering other possibilities. Only when viewed from the outside does the building duck into its surroundings. Inside it offers four levels of generous space for all operational needs: from administration offices to cellar rooms, event spaces, a vinothek with a lounge and opening to the terrace, where on warm summer evenings the atmosphere is as lively as it used to be under the vine leaves in the old Schunkelgarden below.
The energy supply of the complex is largely CO2-neutral, in line with what the building was commissioned to visibly communicate: We have arrived in a new era. We have understood the signs. Our wine is as pristine and honest as the lines of the architecture. Organic is not an official seal of quality, rather a question of responsibility, a self-evident necessity.
Forget all the embellishments. The qualities of the wines from Weingut Abril are categorised according to their character: Frucht (Fruit), Stein (Stone) and Zeit (Time). And these elements are all that count. At first people were skeptical: concrete! clad with steel plates that change their color every year. Someone even called the building a block of rust. The description still holds. However, today there is no longer doubt surrounding it, rather respect. And pride.
Opening Time
Monday to Friday: 8:00 am – 12:00 pm; 1:00 - 5:00pm (November - March)
Monday to Friday: 8:30 am – 12:00 pm; 1:00 - 5:30pm (April - October)
Saturday: 9:30 am – 1:00 pm (March - December)
