Klaus Zimmerling owns 4 hectares of a designated vineyard called Königlicher Weinberg in Pillnitz, near Dresden. Because of his dislike for any kind of bureaucracy, he chooses not to bother with formalities and instead bottles all of his wines as simple Sächsischer Landwein. Thus he avoids having to send samples of his wine to the authorities in order to obtain a Amtliche Prüfungsnummer (a quality control test number), which is the requirement for labelling a wine as QbA or Prädikatswein.
A Landwein is what the French call a Vin de Pays. Whereas in France this category is often held in high esteem (think Trevallon) it does enjoy very little respect in Germany and is therefore rarely seen on labels. This is why it is even more surprising to find such excellent wines, as Zimmerling's undoubtedly are, bottled as a simple Landwein. Considering the average yields of 20 hl/ha they are more in the ranks of a Grand Cru. As good as this kind of conscientious winemaking is for the wine itself (in some years yields are reported to have been as low as 8 hl/ha), such low production also means that the availability of Zimmerling wines is limited. A quick search at Wine-Searcher.com shows that as of now Zimmerling wines are only sold in Germany and Switzerland.
Zimmerling is a trained engineer, who used to make wine only as a hobby. After a year-long training in Austria's Wachau region (which has the same granite and gneiss-dominated soils as Sachsen) he switched careers and became a full-time winemaker, one of the few who does not even have a website. He adheres strictly to organic principles in the vineyard in which he has planted Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Grauburgunder, Müller-Thurgau, Traminer and Bacchus.
At times when every vine-growing hamlet in France wants to have its own AOC, Zimmerling's approach is a welcome change of philosophy: what counts is in, not on the bottle. And if it is good, it will sell, even without an appellation. And despite the lack of a prestigious QmP or QbA designation on the label his wines can be found on the wine lists of many fine restaurants in Germany. Since the 2009 vintage Klaus Zimmerling uses the Stelvin closure for all of his wines, which he fills in elegant looking 0.5 l bottles. In 2010 Klaus Zimmerling joined the VDP.