Bastian Wolber Laisse Tomber Gamay 2023

Born in Staufen im Breisgau, Germany, Bastian Wolber attended Rudolph Steiner schools until the age of 18. “We sewed and made wood products and were encouraged to give everything a shot,” he recalls. “There were no grades, only ‘reviews’ from teachers. It was super and made me feel confident.” However, he wanted to try something different from Steiner and studied Economics and German Tax Law – a route that he would soon discover did not fulfill his desire to create, explore, and connect with nature.

During this time, Bastian’s younger brother Christoph moved to Burgundy to pursue work amongst the vines. While Christoph spent his days honing his craft at Bernard van Berg, Domaine de la Vougeraie, Domaine Leflaive, and Comte Armand, his roommate Alex Götze did the same at Pierre Morey and Domaine de Montille. Inevitably, the two partnered and in 2016, they launched Wasenhaus winery in Baden.

Bastian would visit his brother in Burgundy and recalls sharing a bottle of Ganevat with him at La Dilettante in Beaune. Back in Berlin, Bastian found himself visiting every natural wine shop in his neighborhood, simply just to recreate the ah-ha moments that the Ganevat wine provided.

Soon after, Bastian followed in his brother’s footsteps and began working vintages in Burgundy. He cut his teeth at Leflaive in 2013, then working harvests with Rudolph Trossen in the Mosel and Jean-Marc Dreyer in Alsace, things finally came full circle in 2019, when Bastian found himself apprenticing at Ganevat.

Later in the middle of harvest, Bastian broke his hand during a skateboard accident and was unable to help in the winery. “I beat myself up for having messed up such a great opportunity,” he says. However, this ultimately turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as his injury pushed him to find an alternate way to continue learning and practicing in the cellar. The solution? Make his own wine.

His project “Laisse Tomber” which means ‘let it go’. The literal meaning, though, is ‘Let it fall’. Bastian liked the allusion to his skateboarding accident, quite a bit in fact as his label also features a rider falling off his horse. Why a horse? His mother was a riding instructor and kept many horses at the family farm. “They symbolize sensibility and soul,” he adds. There is also a parable from Herman Hesse that Bastian finds very fitting for his situation. 

Because Bastian’s production in 2019 was too small for it to be his fulltime vocation, he decided to return to Burgundy and further his wine studies at the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, where he pursued a diploma in oenology while also working alongside Jean-Yves Bizot, where he still sharpens his craft today. Bastian is determined to farm his own grapes. In 2020, he started with a parcel of Pinot Noir in the Côte Chalonnaise. In 2021, he found three more Pinot Noir vineyards in Baden. Bizot by day, solo project by night (and on days off, of course).

• Gamay