Kessler Sekt was founded in  1826 by Georg Christian Kessler. He had worked for the luxury French champagne producer Veuve Clicquot for twenty years and brought the expertise of how to make wine sparkle back home to Germany. Nowadays, Kessler Sekt produces around 1 million bottles a year which are sold mainly in southern Germany.

A few weeks ago, I participated in a tour and tasting at Kessler Sekt sparkling wine and had a great time! Our guide led us through the medieval cellars which are located right under the market place of Esslingen.

We learned a lot about the history of Kessler Sekt and the production of sparkling wine.

Fun Fact: Did you know for example that  sparkling wine undergoes two fermentations? One from grape juice to “normal” wine, the second from wine to sparkling wine (that’s when the bubbles come into play! :-)).

Do you see the grey stuff that is hanging from the ceiling?

It is actually some sort of mold that helps regulate the climate in the cellar. Very special, right?!

After the tour, we were brought into another building where we had the opportunity to taste several sparkling wines. I can’t help it, I’m a rosé-lover! 🙂

If you’re interested in doing a guided tour through the historic cellars of Kessler Sekt sparkling wine yourself but don’t speak German, don’t worry: They offer tours in English as well!

More information about:

Kessler Sekt (only in German)

direct link to the guided tours

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You find this small festival at the market square (Marktplatz) in Esslingen, surrounded by beautiful, historical houses.

Eight chefs offer food and drinks at their stands. Most of it is Swabian – which means it’s very good, of course 🙂 But I have to admit, I expected the onion to be more present in the dishes offered. OK, they had onion cake, but that’s nothing unusual. The only interesting thing I found was onion marmalade…

I went for Maultaschen-Burger. Maultaschen are what you can call Swabian Ravioli. One chef came up with the idea of putting it in a bread roll.

I was curious how it might taste and I can tell you, it’s actually quite nice.

As the festival is very small and thus also very crowded in the evening, Jules and I decided to have a drink at Kessler Sekt – Germany’s oldest producer of sparkling wine (at least that’s what they state on their website :-)). During summer, they open their backyard and you can sit there and order sparking wine out of their depot.

I had some kind of summer cocktail -of course made with Kessler Sekt –  and Jules got a glass of Hochgewächs.

We had a lovely evening in Esslingen and I have to admit, even though we came for the onion, it was the sparkling wine that made us stay… 🙂

But eventually, we had to say goodbye to the onions, not without a last hungry look at the onion cakes on display…

If you are interested in visiting the Zwiebelfest yourself, you can do so until the 12th of August.

More information about:

Zwiebelfest Esslingen 2013 (only in German)

Sektkellerei Kessler

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