Our History

The history of weinfreaks.de is inextricably linked to Werner Elflein. Born in 1969, the mathematician's interest in wine began as early as the 1980s. He still remembers his first two wines to this day: two dry Franconian Silvaner Kabinetts from the 1983 and 1984 vintages. Both wines were rather light-bodied and comparatively neutral in the style of their time, and by no means of outstanding quality. Nevertheless, they displayed differences which Werner, even back then, linked to their respective single vineyards and vintages. From today's perspective, it was an early encounter with a question that would occupy him time and again over the following decades: why do wines taste so different, and to what extent do origin, vintage and ageing play a part in this?

During his studies, Werner began to explore wine and its various origins in greater depth. This went beyond simply studying wine literature and tasting individual bottles. He travelled to most of Germany's wine-growing regions and delved into the terroir of the vineyards.

He has always paid particular attention to how wines develop over time. For Werner, wine was never merely a snapshot in time. The question of how a wine changes, how it matures and whether it actually realises its potential became an essential part of his personal experience of wine. As a result, quite a few wines have been part of his life for decades. Today, Werner has more than 40 years experience with wine.

In the summer of 2001, Werner Elflein founded weinfreaks.de together with Christian Segers († 2018). Together, they developed the original concept, thereby laying the foundations for a project that would continue to evolve and develop over the following years.

From the very beginning, the aim was not merely to present wines or document personal taste preferences. As their interest in wine grew, the question arose as to how wines could be assessed as objectively and transparently as possible. Tasting itself thus became an important part of the concept.

The year 2010 marked an important turning point. It was in this year that Werner established blind tastings based on the standards that continue to guide the tasting methodology at weinfreaks.de to this day.

The methodology was developed and refined step by step in the years that followed. Insights from our own tastings were incorporated, as were constructive suggestions from outside.

This continuous development continues to shape weinfreaks.de to this day. The tasting methodology is not intended as a rigid set of rules, but rather as a system that is continually reviewed and improved on the basis of practical experience. The primary aim is to create the conditions for an assessment of wine that is as independent, critical and transparent as possible.

For more than ten years, Werner ran the weblog Werner Elflein | Mein Weintagebuch alongside weinfreaks.de.

It complemented his work on weinfreaks.de by offering a more personal perspective. Whilst weinfreaks.de became increasingly focused on the question of how wine could be assessed as independently and systematically as possible, the weblog provided a space for a more immediate exploration of his own experiences with wine.

More than 25 years after its foundation, weinfreaks.de is the result of a long personal journey and an equally long engagement with wine.

The history of weinfreaks.de is therefore also the story of an ongoing learning process. What began in 2001 as a joint project between Werner Elflein and Christian Segers has been continuously developed over more than two decades. The experience gained during this time now forms the basis for our commitment to independent, critical and, as far as possible, unbiased wine criticism.