Raumland – Interview With Marie-Luise Raumland

The love of sparkling wine is infinite, a language that everyone can understand, a sparkle that can shine in anyone’s glass, it can connect people, brings them together and places a smile on faces around the world.

In this exclusive feature on Glass of Bubbly, we speak with Marie-Luise Raumland, one of the owners and family members at Raumland, let’s discover a little about her life, her journey into the industry and one of her favourite Champagne memories.

Can You Tell Us A Little Bit More About Yourself And Your Family Winery?

“Our passion for Sekt is reflected in everything we do. It’s what drives us – and what we hope to awaken in others! 1984 was the year when we began dreaming big. Ours has been the path of both innovation and tradition, producing top-quality sparkling wine using the time-honored method of bottle fermentation. For many winemakers in Germany, this choice remains inconceivable. Today our family cultivates 14 hectares of vineyards organically, of course. Our greatest passion lies in the classic Pinot varieties such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, and Meunier. Our sites in Rheinhessen and Pfalz enable us to produce base wines of notable minerality, depth, and complexity. All cuvées come from our own vineyards with exciting limestone, loess and marl soils.

Traditional bottle fermentation requires time and patience. It is well known that a long period of ageing on the lees gives a sparkling wine complexity and depth. Our sparkling wines mature on the lees in the bottle for at least 36 months – in some cases even up to 120 months and longer. Since 2019, we have continued our sparkling wine tradition with Marie-Luise and Katharina as the second generation. Since then, our family has been focusing even more strongly on sustainability, on our vineyard work, as well as employing traditional methods in our cellar.”

Do You Remember Your First Experience Within Sparkling Wine Be It Working On The Vineyards Or Tasting?

“Volker: After my commercial training at Siemens, I studied viticulture and oenology in Geisenheim and produced my first sparkling wine as part of a university project: a Müller-Thurgau from my parents’ winery. This promptly landed on the winner’s podium in a blind tasting of various international sparkling wines. Then and there, it became clear to me that Sekt would be both my profession and my calling.

Katharina and Marie-Luise: We have grown up with sparkling wine during our very early years! We joined the harvest as children with all our friends and had open ears once customers visited us in our Sektgut. During the early days, the tastings took place in our living room so it was unavoidable to ignore our parent’s passion, life and vocation.

Katharina: After studying business administration, spending some time abroad, and gaining some initial work experience, I decided to follow in my father’s footsteps and study in Geisenheim. During that time, I gathered experience and inspiration in South Africa at Villion Family Wines, in England at Gusbourne, and in France at Champagne Lacourte-Godbillon. After these experiences, I’ve finally arrived at home. Every second, every ounce of my passion, goes into our base wines and the enhancement of our base wine into Sekt.

Marie-Luise: The passion for sparkling wine characterizes our whole family. We deal with sparkling wine on a daily basis, not only at work but also in our private lives. This already shaped my youth and is certainly one of the reasons why I secretly knew early on that I would one day dedicate my life to sparkling wine. After studying business administration, I went to Montpellier to study viticulture & oenology. After 5 more years in the food and spirits industry, it was finally clear: I am a Sekt producer through and through. I returned to our Sekthaus in 2019.”

We Love To See The Commitment To Ageing Raumland Offers And Especially In Their Grand Reserve Range. Which Is The Oldest Vintage Sparkling Wine You Have Tasted?

“The oldest Sparkling wine we have tasted was a bottle from Paul Roger from the 1920s. It was found in an old cellar in Germany. It was a demi Bouteille (0,375L) and demi sec. Quite interesting: it did not taste sweet at all since the acidity level back then was much higher than nowadays. The bubbles were almost diminished but the experience to taste it was unique.”

Can You Share With Us Some Of The Countries And Locations Across The World That Serve Raumland Wines?

“We are happy to export our sparkling wine to the following countries: Switzerland, US, Norway, Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Belgium, China, Singapore, Liechtenstein, Hong Kong, Spain, Austria, Finnland, Mexico, Czech Republic, Ireland, Thailand and Russia (currently paused)”

If You Could Enjoy A Glass Of Your Sparkling Wines With Any Person In The World, Past Or Present, Who Would That Be?

“It would be fantastic to drink a glass of (German) sparkling wine with Emmanuel Macron.”

If You Are Not Drinking Raumland’s Wonderful Wines, Which Would Be Your Choice Of Wine Region / Winery?

“We prefer to drink bubbles – from anywhere in the world! Of course, we have a great pleasure drinking Champagne – not only from big houses but mainly from smaller producers.”

Thank you Marie-Luise, for sharing your story and experiences with us and we at Glass of Bubbly wish you the very best for the future!

The featured image belongs to/is credited to Oliver Rüther. Glass of Bubbly was granted permission to use it by Raumland.