Bremen's UNESCO cellar revives sparkling wine after 40-year pause

A Sparkling Revival: Bremen's Historic Cellar Ages Its First Raw Sparkling Wine in Decades

For the first time since the 1980s, an unfinished product is maturing in Bremen's Ratskeller: a base sparkling wine, grown and hand-harvested in Rheinhessen, fermented, bottled, and now stored directly beneath the Domshof square. "This is a historic moment for me," says cellar master Frederik Janus. "For centuries, we stored and bottled wines in barrels here. Now, we finally have a raw product aging on its lees again—one that we will perfect ourselves."

The sparkling wine is set to become a premium Bremen product: fine and delicate on the palate, with elegant berry notes and a refined mineral complexity. The grapes come from Essenheim in Rheinhessen, a vineyard renowned for its chalky, clay-rich soils. "We have conditions similar to those in Champagne," says vintner Christian Braunewell, who produced the base wine and initiated its secondary fermentation. "Historical records, especially those mentioning Essenheim, highlight its outstanding potential for sparkling wine production." His family winery, established in 1655, has been crafting sparkling wine for over two decades and has partnered with Bremen's Ratskeller wine trade for the past ten years.

"It was immediately clear to me that Braunewell was the ideal partner for our sparkling wine project," says Frederik Janus. "Sparkling wine represents the highest form of winemaking—it's deeply tied to passion and idealism. It takes years before it's ready for sale." For the base wine, Braunewell selectively hand-picked Pinot Noir grapes, gently pressing them to extract a white juice from the dark-skinned fruit. "This gives us a fresh, vibrant, and invigorating juice," he explains. The wine then fermented for a full year in wooden barrels in the winery's cellar before being bottled. Now, in the Ratskeller, it undergoes its transformation into sparkling wine.

This traditional bottle fermentation—the most prestigious method for producing high-quality sparkling wine—involves adding sugar and yeast to the base wine in the bottle to trigger a second fermentation. Over time, this process generates alcohol and carbon dioxide, naturally developing effervescence and complex aromas. "This aging period is crucial for the sparkling wine," Braunewell notes. "The longer it lasts, the more refined the result." The Ratskeller, with its thick walls dating back to 1405, provides the perfect conditions: consistent coolness and darkness.

A UNESCO World Heritage site since 2004, the Ratskeller is not just a tourist attraction but a living workspace. "It's important to me that the Ratskeller isn't treated as a museum but used for its original purpose: as a working wine cellar," says Janus, a trained vintner and qualified oenologist. With this raw sparkling wine, the cellar's winemaking legacy is being revived, bringing a piece of traditional craftsmanship back to Bremen. However, the 1,500 bottles won't be ready for sale for at least another two and a half years—and until then, Janus will occasionally open one to taste, ensuring the final product lives up to the vision he already savors today.