Wine Store.
Tuesday till Saturday 10.00-20.00
Monday 11.00-19.00
Bar and Restaurant.
Tuesday till Friday 18.00-23.00
Saturday 12.00-23.00
Walter & Benjamin
Rumfordstraße 1
80469 Munich-Altstadt
.How to get there
Searching for exciting, beautiful, and unusual places for our city guide, it’s less often the hyped up new spots in town that grab our attention, and more often the discovery of special locations that have been gracing the cityscape for years. Their selection tends to be timelessly good, the atmosphere so charming that you enjoy spending time there.
Walter & Benjamin on Rumfordstraße recently landed on my personal list of such places. The locale has been uniting a wine store, bar, and restaurant under one roof for twenty years. The store’s history has aged as nicely as the fine wines available for tasting and purchasing.
It originally began with a team of four, including the two namesakes Walter & Benjamin. Along with changes and growth in their families, the form of the company itself transformed; Walter Zimmermann and his wife Helga Hedewig are currently the main stakeholders in the management of the winery and gastronomy service.
One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the harmonious triad of sales, bar, and restaurant. By day, the store holds a large selection of mostly European wines, which at each price range have one thing in common: they’re from sustainably operated vineyards and impress with they quality, taste, and character.
The distinct, yet extensive selection of the wines they manage is just what makes Walter Zimmermann and Helga Hedewig’s range so special.
“Wine needs to taste good. And it needs to be produced in such a way that neither man nor the environment are harmed- even though winegrowing involves a monoculture,” Helga Hedewig explains one of her compelling principles.
From this emerged a special focus on organic wines whose “pure” taste speaks for itself and that are created from eco-farming- mostly from small vineyards.
In the evening, the wine bar trumps others with a lovely feature: while other places usually offer a maximum of three or four open wines, here there are dozens.
It’s also incredibly practical that you can take a bottle of your possibly newly discovered favourite wine home with you. But even the on-site experience is worth the trip. The affiliated restaurant’s menu always contains seasonal dishes, prepared almost exclusively using local ingredients.
And because a good read and fine glass of wine is a known winning combo, in the back of the store is a book selection curated by specialist in German studies, Helga Hedewig. There’s also a variety of fine oils, spices, and dips- look no further for the perfect gift for the foodie in your life.
And you should treat yourself now and then, too- by taking the time to try something new or going for dinner with friends. Walter & Benjamin is definitely a good starting point…