Industry News

What was the specific catalyst for launching the Tamino project – and what need were you aiming to address?

The State Institute of Viticulture in Freiburg has been breeding fungus-resistant grape varieties for decades – Cabernet Cortis, Monarch, Prior, Souvignier Gris and many more. These varieties are ready for commercial use and approved for quality wine production. What was missing was a route to market.

For the white varieties, this developed naturally through the variety names. With reds, this doesn’t work: twenty unknown names, each with just a few hectares, cannot be established individually, and no winery will plant a variety for which it sees no market. This is precisely where Tamino comes in: it is not the grape variety that drives the marketing, but a clearly defined wine profile under a single brand. In this way, we support the state’s breeding programme right through to the glass.

Please do give us a brief insight into the project’s development so far!

It all began in 2021 with defining the wine: together with the producers, we established what a Tamino is – a full-bodied, deeply coloured red wine blend aged in oak, stylistically closer to a Rioja or Barolo than to a light red.

The market launch took place in December 2022 with nine estates from Baden and Württemberg. Today, there are 17 wineyards, cooperatives and wineries. Each produces its own Tamino from its own grapes; the brand guarantees the profile, not uniformity. External reviews show that the concept is a success: the 2022 Tamino from the Freiburg State Winery was awarded 90.5 Falstaff points. The range has since expanded to include non-alcoholic products and a single-varietal Souvignier Gris Réserve, which we launched in September 2026.

What criteria are used to select the wineries involved in the project?

We assess the wine, not the winery. Mandatory requirements include a minimum of 85 per cent PIWI grape varieties, a maximum of 80 hectolitres per hectare, a minimum of 85 degrees Oechsle, over 12.5 per cent alcohol by volume, and at least twelve months’ ageing in wooden barrels. These requirements are set out in a specification document that provides the estates with clear guidance – from grape delivery right through to maturation. Added to this is my oenological support as a consultant: anyone with questions about the wine’s ageing and maturation process doesn’t have to figure them out on their own.

The final stage is the sensory assessment – and this is carried out by the Tamino Group producers themselves, not by external assessors. There is a fixed assessment scheme with eight criteria: ranging from colour and colour intensity, through dark fruit, spicy and vegetal aromas and oak influence, to astringency, sweetness-acidity balance and body. For each characteristic, a predefined range is set within which a Tamino must fall. A wine is only approved if, for 75 per cent of the assessors, all ratings fall within this range. Those who fail to meet this threshold bottle their wine under their own name, but not as a Tamino.

It is the winemaker themselves who decides which grape varieties go into the cuvée. The availability of varieties varies greatly from region to region, and this freedom is part of the appeal.

One thing that is expressly not a criterion is the method of cultivation. Organic estates and conventionally farmed estates using low-impact practices are equally represented. PIWI is not an exclusively organic issue, but an option for the entire wine-growing sector.

How do you address the reservations that still exist within the industry regarding PIWI wines – whether amongst producers, retailers or in the hospitality sector?

With the glass. In the hospitality sector, we consistently use blind tastings – the grape variety is only mentioned once a judgement has been made about the wine, not before. The experience is clear: anyone who tries a Tamino without prior knowledge no longer even asks about the variety.

In the retail sector, the obstacle is not a judgement of taste, but the logic of product listing: an unknown grape variety name does not get shelf space. A brand with a consistent profile across several vintages and several producers does. That is precisely why Tamino exists.

And as far as producers are concerned: their reluctance rarely lies with the wine itself, but with the marketing. Anyone who joins Tamino does not have to go down this path alone.

How do you assess the market potential of PIWI wines in the national and international context?

The figures speak for themselves: the area planted with PIWI varieties in Germany grew by ten per cent in 2025 to around 4,000 hectares, whilst the total vineyard area declined by one per cent. Souvignier Gris recorded the largest increase in area of any German grape variety. A category that is growing against the market trend has real substance.

Internationally, the landscape is opening noticeably. Since 2021, resistant new varieties have also been permitted in wines with a Protected Designation of Origin. Rheinhessen was the first German region to consistently pursue this path, whilst Austria is steadily expanding its PIWI area. And the vines themselves have long since been on the move: a large proportion of the planting stock grown in Germany is now exported, primarily to France. What was bred in Freiburg can now be found in vineyards far beyond Baden.

Let’s be clear about one thing: it is quality that sells – and these wines deliver it.

What are the next steps in Tamino’s development, and what are the key factors here?

The brand is expanding beyond red wine: non-alcoholic products have been part of the range since this year, and in September 2026 the first single-varietal Souvignier Gris Réserve was added. At the same time, we are increasing our presence in specialist retailers and the hospitality sector; in 2027 we will be represented for the second time with a shared stand at EUROVINO.

Two factors are crucial here. Firstly, volume: without volume, there is no listing, and volume depends on the PIWI vineyard area of the estates. Secondly, the consistency of the profile: a shared brand only works if the wine remains recognisable across vintages and estates. Both are a matter of craftsmanship and take time.

Do you see PIWI as a long-term complement or as a structural alternative in German quality viticulture? What developments do you expect to see here over the next five to ten years?

Both, but with a time lag. Vineyards remain in place for 25 to 30 years, so the mix of grape varieties changes correspondingly slowly. For the next few years, PIWI will be a growing complement; a share of eight to twelve per cent of the vineyard area by the early 2030s is a realistic prospect.

PIWI becomes a genuine alternative where plant protection is difficult: in organic viticulture, on steep slopes, and in areas close to settlements and water bodies. In such places, the question today is no longer ‘whether’, but ‘which variety’.

This development is taking place in a market that is already shifting. Per capita consumption has been falling for years; younger generations drink wine less frequently or abstain from alcohol altogether, and demographic change is exacerbating both trends.

At the same time, well over half of the wine consumed in Germany now comes from abroad: in the first half of 2026, the market share of German wines stood at 42.5 per cent by volume, and for red wine it was as low as 30 per cent. Anyone wishing to succeed in this environment needs a distinctive profile rather than just another interchangeable red wine. This is precisely where the opportunity lies: wines with a story that a mass-produced Italian wine cannot tell – regional origin, significantly reduced use of pesticides, and a grape variety bred in the country itself.

The market remains the decisive factor, not the vineyard. These wines will succeed to the extent that we manage to sell them based on style, origin and brand rather than grape variety. This is precisely what we are doing with Tamino.