The multi-award-winning Stern Winery in the Palatinate is one of the region’s most renowned estates. An interview with winemaker Dominic Stern on origins, craftsmanship, patience and the art of ‘controlled inaction’.
Behind a simple courtyard gate in the Palatinate village of Hochstadt, just a few kilometres from the German Wine Route, lies the Stern Winery. Grouped around a small inner courtyard are the family’s home, a wine storehouse and the heart of the winery: the wine shop. “Come on in for a taste!” is the warm welcome from winemaker Dominic Stern. The first glasses are already on the table.
LESS IS MORE
The conversation begins just as Stern’s wines are made: without haste, with patience and a willingness to give things the time they need. After just a few minutes, it becomes clear that here at the winery, much is guided by a firm conviction. Dominic Stern talks about soils, vines and vintages, about experiences passed down through generations, and about decisions whose effects often only become apparent years later. It’s about provenance, patience and giving a wine the space to retain its origins.
The Stern family has been following this principle for more than 30 years. But what does this guiding principle actually mean? For Dominic Stern, the answer begins long before a grape is harvested or a barrel is filled. It begins where wine is created: in the vineyard.
“Our aim is for you to be able to recognise the terroir in the glass later on,” he says. For him, terroir is not merely a marketing promise. It is a commitment to revealing the character of a vintage with all its distinctive traits. A wine should not taste the same every year. It should tell the story of what the weather was like, and what traces the soil and nature have left behind.
On the art of controlled idleness
That is why Stern relies on as much manual labour as possible in the vineyard and as little intervention as possible in the cellar. Healthy, fully ripe grapes are the most important prerequisite for good wines, he says. If these are right, there is hardly any need to gloss over or correct anything later on. Equally important is the careful tending of the soil. After all, a living soil forms the basis for healthy vines and is, at the same time, a key component of viticulture that is as sustainable as possible. In the cellar, the main focus is then on recognising the right moment, whilst fermentation and ageing take their natural course. Dominic Stern describes this approach with a term that sounds contradictory at first: ‘controlled inaction’.
For him, ‘controlled inactivity’ certainly does not mean leaving the wine to its own devices. Quite the opposite. “For us, every step from the grape to the wine in the bottle is carried out by hand, whether in the vineyard or in the cellar,” emphasises Stern. The less technical intervention there is, the more important it is to monitor the wine closely and make the right decisions at the right moment.
‘You can influence a lot of things technically these days,’ he says. ‘But then, at some point, everything starts to taste the same.’ Stern refers to the ‘Coca-Cola taste’. He is talking about wines whose origin is barely recognisable any more because they are consistently produced to a specific style.
Dominic Stern takes a different approach. For him, quality begins where a wine ceases to be generic and instead retains its origins. This conviction has developed over generations and continues to shape the winery to this day.
Tradition does not mean standing still
Contrary to what one might expect, the history of the winery does not begin with grapes, but with wood. Dominic Stern’s grandfather, Josef, was a cooper. For decades, he made barrels for the region’s winegrowers. As stainless-steel tanks increasingly replaced this traditional craft, the family adapted. In 1952, Josef Stern bought his first vineyard as a sideline. A few years later, a distillery was added to the business. Step by step, the craft business developed into a winery. Dominic’s father, Wolfgang, also consistently continued along this path. He modernised the business, planted new vineyards, bottled the wines himself for the first time, and thus laid the foundations for today’s success.
When Dominic Stern joined the family business in the early 2000s, aged just under 20, he brought more than just the knowledge gained from his training as an oenologist to Hochstadt. Work placements and stays at renowned wineries in Germany, Austria and South Africa had sharpened his perspective on wine and reinforced his conviction that decades of experience regarding soils, microclimates and grape varieties could by no means be conveyed purely through theory.
The knowledge of previous generations continues to form the foundation of his work to this day. However, he does not regard old rules and practices as ends in themselves. New insights are naturally embraced, especially when they contribute to better wines. For Dominic Stern, tradition and modern oenology go hand in hand. In viticulture, a willingness to learn is part and parcel of the commitment to quality. After all, once mistakes have been made, they are very difficult to rectify later on.
There’s one chance a year
Any oversights in the choice of grape varieties, the care of the vines and soil, or the grape harvest often have repercussions for months or even years to come. Unlike a chef, a winegrower cannot simply buy new ingredients the next day, devise a different menu and start all over again, explains Dominic Stern, adding:
This responsibility demands one thing above all else: patience. In the cellar, you give the natural processes the time they need. Fermentation often takes several months. Technically, it could be speeded up. “If you want to do it naturally, then it simply takes time.”
Anyone who meets Dominic Stern quickly realises why he laughingly describes himself as an ‘all-rounder’. Although he prefers to be out amongst the vines or in the cellar, However, his day-to-day routine also includes advising customers, sales, office work and organisation. The fact that he is involved at every stage of a wine’s journey – from the very first grape to the conversation with the customer in the wine shop – defines his work.
At the end of the day, it’s down to personal taste
After nearly two hours of conversation, Dominic Stern springs another surprise. When asked, of all things, how one can recognise true quality, the winemaker – who has received numerous awards from VINUM, Falstaff, Eichelmann and Gault&Millau – offers no universal answer.
While ratings, awards, and high prices may serve as useful guides, what ultimately counts is one’s own taste. Anyone who is prepared to try different wines and take an interest in them will automatically develop a feel for quality.
Stern often observes a certain reluctance, particularly amongst younger people. Many believed they first had to know something about wine before they could really enjoy it or even be allowed to join in the conversation. At the same time, the younger generation as a whole is drinking less wine than in the past – a trend that is a cause for concern among many winemakers. For Dominic Stern, however, this is no reason to make wine more complicated. On the contrary.
When visitors come into his wine shop and say, ‘I don’t know anything about wine. What would you recommend?’, he doesn’t reply with technical terms or star ratings. He invites them to have a taste. And what if someone prefers the simple Chardonnay from the stainless-steel tank to the much more elaborately aged Chardonnay from the wooden barrel? “Perfect,” says Dominic Stern. “Then that’s your taste!”
Despite all the experience, patience and care that goes into every wine, for Dominic Stern it ultimately comes down to what really matters: the joy of enjoyment.
