Martin Wörner grew up among the vines of Flonheim, in Rheinhessen. His grandfather was one of the village’s first growers to bottle his own wine instead of selling to the co-op. When Martin took over the family vineyards, he gave them a new voice: Marto.

Before his first vintage in 2017, he worked harvests at Gut Oggau in Austria and with Tom Lubbe at Matassa in Roussillon, and came home convinced that wine is made in the vineyard. He farms around five hectares organically, with sheep grazing between the rows and radishes, beetroot and turnips growing as cover crops.

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The focus is on the grapes Rheinhessen does best yet often overlooks – Riesling, Silvaner, Scheurebe, Kerner and Müller-Thurgau – plus Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc. The wines are light, cloudy and full of energy: skin-contact whites, blends and joyful pét-nats, fermented with native yeasts, aged in oak, with no sulfur added.

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Martin doesn’t do it alone. Alanna Lagamba, his partner from Toronto, works alongside him and makes her own wines under Vin de Lagamba – including Frauen Power, a fizzy, fruity German take on Lambrusco. Together they make wines that are playful, personal and unmistakably theirs.