Outstanding Vinotheks Details

A few years ago, Marcel Idler tried it with a Tiny House, one of those architectural miracles of space in which everything fits into a few square metres. It worked, that's true, and even won prizes, but it was really very small. Too small for someone who not only has to convince his guests, but also seduce them. Who wants to offer them a sensory experience of wine and at the same time justify his very special philosophy of viticulture or of dealing with nature in general.

It is a philosophy in which respect plays an essential role, thoughtfulness, restraint, morality. And which was therefore already quite well represented in the tininess of a Tiny House. Doesn't matter. The idea can also be implemented convincingly in somewhat larger spaces, twofold, i.e. sensorial and provocative at the same time. For a good year now, the 33-year-old winemaker from the idyllic wine village of Strümpfelbach in the Rems Valley, just outside Stuttgart, has been presenting his wines in a new winery building with bottle storage, fermentation tanks and a holiday apartment.

The centre, however, is the vinothek, airy, open and highlighted by a solid frame like a showcase in which one displays his treasures. With a view of the wooden barrels in the cellar and a large glass front to the outside, where the vineyards lie. The architects of the Stuttgart-based firm W67 immediately understood what the ascetic-seeking winemaker was getting at: nothing that wasn't absolutely necessary. Quite simple really: the character of the wines should find its counterpart in the architecture. Just no old-fashioned romantic nostalgia!

The builders only had to translate; their means were untreated wood, glass and exposed concrete. Nothing else. Because Idler does the same with wine: no chemical pesticides, no additives, certified organic for five years. With so much austerity, is there any room for design? The winemaker laughs. Of course, he says: "If you always just leave something out, in the end there's nothing left. And to confirm this, he points to the ceiling of his tasting room. There, transverse wooden slats cover the bare concrete. It looks more attractive and breaks up the sound when many people are talking, laughing and toasting each other at the tables.

And again, the leap from architecture to wine is quite easy. Both are the product of conscious design. An idea forms the foundation, a personal attitude and the desire to do it well. The barrels for red wine, for example: concessions are out of the question; the wine needs the best wood or none at all. Aesthetics is a question of self-confidence and trust. Marcel Idler puts it more modestly, but also a little mischievously: good wine needs time, passion and a hands-on approach. But there is no harm in adding Swabian gumption and a clear mind.