women4beverages: Julia and Marie Wasem from the Wasem Doppelstück start-up winery

Viticulture and management cleverly shared

It's spring, the weather has turned, it's supposed to stay dry. Julia Wasem comes straight from the vineyard. She has been working the vines since four in the morning. This has priority, nature doesn't wait. The 24-year-old is field cultivation manager of the winery “Wasem Doppelstück” in Ingelheim. Her sister Marie Wasem manages the events and runs the business of the estate, which includes the 22-acre vineyard, a vinotheque, a wine hotel and an events program. Together with their parents Ilona and Burkhard Wasem, the two founded the winery in 2019. Two sisters, two generations: Doppelstück squared!

A winery as a start-up

"We started small and surprisingly," Marie Wasem recounts. Actually, the 28-year-old wanted to start a career in controlling and human resources at larger companies after graduating in business administration. Julia, too, had geared herself to another profession, until life played out differently. Admittedly, the winegrowing thing is not all that far-fetched. If you grow up in Ingelheim am Rhein, you have it in your DNA: Mother Ilona Wasem originally learned to be a winemaker. Father Burkhard Wasem was a longtime vineyard manager at another winery. "That's where I helped with the harvest for the very first time in the fall," says Julia Wasem, "I found it very exciting and impressive." She then completed an internship in a wine laboratory and another in a wine awarding institution, where wines are tested, evaluated and sensorially described, and got to know the industry peu à peu.

Julia also gained insight into a long-standing organic winery. "This inspired me to start something like that myself and make my own wines accordingly," says Julia Wasem. Pretty confident! She loves her job: "You see the vine grow up from the young field to the old vineyard and all the work you put in," she says, "I think it's great that after a year of hard work you have a product that you created one hundred percent yourself." Her sister quickly became enthusiastic about the start-up as well. Marie Wasem: "I am very ambitious. I am attracted by the responsibility and also the risk of creating something of my own. That drives me every day," she says. The wine hotel, which mother Ilona Wasem has already been running since 2002, has fit seamlessly into the start-up.

Riesling and Burgundy

Doppelstück focuses on Riesling and Burgundy wines from different sites in two locations. The Ingelheim vineyards are generally warmer. The red wines and Pinot Gris come from here. The Elsheim vineyards are characterized by special soils. The wines from there are more mineral. "You don't have to do everything that's trendy," Marie says, alluding to wild wines, "it's more important to us that we create wines that bring to the glass what we want to show with our craft." In addition to cultivation, Julia is also responsible for cellar work – assisted by her father, who brings "the necessary experience and finesse." She emphasizes, "We love it subtle and straightforward with elegant acidity. You can create incredibly beautiful wines with skillful acidity management." During the final inspection before bottling, all employees are allowed to join in the tasting. Marie's words count just as much as that of cellar master Julia. This is because the managing director works closely with customers in sales as well as with her tasting events and knows what can and cannot be represented in the Doppelstück range. Most of the Doppelstück wines are sold in the wine hotel. Up to 80,000 bottles are sold there every year.

With their winery, Julia and Marie Wasem join the promising generation of young female winemakers. Although women are still in the minority in the industry – she estimates their share among self-employed winemakers being 15 to 20 percent – "there has been a big change in thinking in recent years," says Marie Wasem. While many wineries used to operate primarily under the name of the father and with the addition of "and sons," she says, there are more and more women making wine, including in the business succession. The organic winery of pioneer Eva Vollmer, for example, is only fifteen minutes away from Ingelheim.

With their sisterhood business, the Wasems are hitting a gap in the market. "90 percent of our customers and guests at the hotel are women," says Marie. It's mainly small groups of around ten people who come here, for example to celebrate a bachelorette party. The event program is made for the occasion: yoga, lettering, macramé – and all accompanied by wine. The idea spawned the lockdown crisis. When regulations only allowed small-group meetings, the Wasems geared their event program toward that. "Sometimes a men's group will stray to us," Marie notes.

A feminine working environment

Interestingly, their feminine signature is also reflected in the employees. "We have a high quota of female applicants," says Marie. A female-dominated environment is more attractive to many women, she says, because then they don't have to feel like they're being put in a corner along the lines of, "Well, you're going to drop out sooner or later anyway because of motherhood." Marie emphasizes: "With us, everyone can develop." It's more cordial and sensitive than in male-run businesses, she believes. "It's important to me that everyone is happy. Because the success of our business stands and falls with the team", says Marie. So, she makes sure that ambience and interactions are right. "This is our baby, it's up to us how we shape it," she says, "and at the same time we don't have a choice, because we can't just change after a while because the balance isn't right."

And so, after the beginnings with the establishment of the estate and the operating facilities, the goal is now to bring structure to the 30-strong team, to implement an efficient workflow, and to gradually expand sales to major customers. Hopefully! Then we will also be able to enjoy the fine wines from Wasem Doppelstück beyond the region.