Our pair have very different histories. Burg Ravensburg, in the village of Sulzfeld, north-west of Stuttgart and not far from the fabled university town of Heidelberg, in the extreme north of Baden, has a documented history going back to 1251, making it one of Germany’s oldest estates. Heitlinger, by contrast, is a modern estate a few kilometers north in the village of Tiefenbach that was rescued from bankruptcy a few years ago by Heinz Heiler, a great wine-enthusiast and owner of a beautiful golf-course across the way. Today, it also boasts a hotel, one of the top restaurants of the region and a first-class facility where the wines of both estates are made and aged. Herr Heiler had the great wisdom to hire as his General Manager a man called Claus Burmeister, who actually grew up on the Burg Ravensburg estate and is utterly steeped in the region. Soft-spoken but intense, Claus has lifted his two estates to the absolute summit of Baden wines, enjoying a degree of success in the press and at wine competitions without compare. They own 80% of the vineyards entitled to Grosses Gewächs status in the Kraichgau and Claus displays a mastery of different idioms that is quite remarkable. This estate can also claim to be the largest in Germany that is certified organic. They have also adopted a number of bio-dynamic practices. Their ability to offer a comprehensive range of wines on a large scale and at an elevated quality level is reminiscent of Austrian estates like Bründlmayer and Schloss Gobelsburg. The reasonableness of the prices is striking.