If we go back 20 years, or even ten, wine bars were considered to be primarily for the, let`s say, more elite members of society. The general clientele (at least in Berlin) would have been described as sophisticated and extremely traditional, a wine bar being the epicentre of strict standards and clear expectations to be met: by owners, staff and guests.

The image was rather stiff, one could say, making wine and fine dining quite a serious business. They were the preferred locations for people over 40: parents, grandparents and CEOs, and the place for business negotiations.

Naturally, the younger crowds would stick to “cooler” places – bars and clubs with beer, cocktails and DJs. Even taking a date to a wine bar could have gone very wrong.

Recently, times have changed, and in Berlin, always the indicator of trends, the living proof is that wine bars are the place to go now for GenZ – Prenzlauer Berg being the city´s epicentre for cultural changes.

Youngsters coming to Berlin from all over the world as students, young professionals, interns, artists or visitors seem to have developed a new, refined taste. Spending your evenings with friends at a local bar enjoying extraordinary wines and refined foods is the new cool thing to do.

Young, internationally trained and well-travelled

Taran Schiffer (25) and Pablo Gomez (26) own and manage konträr, a cosy wine bar in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. And despite their young age, both have travelled and worked on multiple continents already, this experience influencing every aspect of their work.

Schiffer is part of a long line of gastronomic professionals, with his grandfather, Dieter Schiffer, spending most of his career as the head chef at the renowned KaDeWe. His uncles also followed in those footsteps: Luca Schiffer at KaDeWe and Patrick Schiffer at Josl in Charlottenburg, specializing in Austrian cuisine.

Born in Charlottenburg in Berlin, Taran Schiffer finished his A-levels unusually early, at 16 years old. Soon, he decided to join the family tradition and began an apprenticeship to become a chef at ‘Brooklyn Berlin’. But when he got the chance to go to university in the United States, he took it, and earned his BA in Applied Food Studies at the Culinary Institute of America. On campus in Hyde Park NY, Taran met Pablo – a fellow student who would become his partner in a Berlin wine bar a few years later. But first, they started their training in gastronomy and cooking, travelling all over the world, with internships and semesters abroad: Singapore, Stockholm and New York City, where Schiffer would end up staying for four years, working as a cook for Wildair and Contra, a Michelin-starred restaurant on the Lower East Side.

At the contemporary Korean restaurant Momofuku Kāwi, Schiffer was trained by Eunjo Park and David Chang, a Michelin-starred restaurant chef and co-owner of multiple fine dining chains in New York City. “At that time, I also had a Mexican girlfriend,” remembered Schiffer. “Travelling to her home country and experiencing the local food has been a huge influence ever since. Local Mexican foods is simply amazing and full of flavours.”

What changed everything for Schiffer (and many others in the industry) was the COVID pandemic. The decision to come back to Berlin was rather involuntary for the aspiring chef, but when the crisis hit and New York Cities‘ restaurants and bars went into full lockdown at the end of 2019, he was forced to catch one of the last available flights back to Europe, back to Berlin, his hometown.

Owning a winebar at 25: GenZ challenges traditions

Back in Berlin, the decision to open up his very own wine bar came natural to him. And as a member of GenZ, everything is fast paced: one call to his college-mate Pablo Gomez and the simple question: “Hey, do you want to become my partner for a wine bar over here?” was all it took and one month later, Gomez joined him in Prenzlauer Berg.

By June 2021, amidst the roaring COVID crisis, Schiffer and Gomez celebrated the opening of konträr, a charming little wine bar in the middle of Prenzlauer Berg.

And, as young business owners of that generation, they are doing lots of things differently. “We decided on offering alternating share-plates instead of a set dining menu, because it gives you more flexibility, which you do not have in a formal fine dining restaurant operation,” explained Schiffer. “We do not have a fixed wine or food menu either – we rather recommend certain wines according to our customers’ preferred tastes and our food offers change regularly, depending on what is in season and sustainable. Once we get bored, we simply stop doing these dishes. Our whole team comes up with new ideas for our share-plates, we try them and decide on the best options. Simply put, we like flexibility and try to avoid pressure of any kind.”

As a business manager and employer of five people, Schiffer also seems rather untypical compared to his older counterparts. “Everyone here is quite chilled. It feels more like a group of friends spending their day doing what they like, than a work atmosphere,” he said, smiling. According to Schiffer, the real challenge is German bureaucracy: “German rules and regulations are quite exhausting.”

konträr: savoury bites and natural wines

Visitors to konträr can expect a very relaxed evening, casual gourmet dining and a good selection of natural wines. Staff and owners are unpretentious and very chilled, compared to your average wine bar.

The culinary offers, served as small share-plates, exhibit strong flavours and unmistakable German and Asian influences, due to the chef’s work and life experience. Asked about his personal favourite dish currently, Schiffer smiled knowingly: “Without question, it’s the pork chops for me – simple, German home-style food, but with a special touch.” Also recommended is the herbal char, stir fried in soy and oyster sauce – one of the guests’ absolute favourites. Without a doubt a great experience, especially when paired with an elegant Testalonga Bianco, a Mediterranean white Vermentino full of citrus and complexity, or a glass of Stella Flora – a Pecorino, Passerina, Trebbiano and Malvasia blend.

When it comes to wines, the selection available at konträr is diverse and always changing, quite intriguing for wine connoisseurs; konträr is a natural wine bar, without any conventionally produced wines on offer. The majority of wines are harvested by hand and fermented spontaneously, from small vineyards, producing natural wines such as Georg Lingenfelder, run by a young winemaker from Pfalz, Germany, representing the 14th generation of the family in wine.

With 20-somethings becoming winemakers and wine bar owners, GenZ is starting to revolutionise a formerly quite serious business. The image of wine experts and fine dining is about to change, and it might turn into the next cool thing. It already is in Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg.

• konträr
• Winsstraße 53, 10405 Berlin, Germany
• Opening times: Mon to Fri: 7 pm - open end; Sun: 2 pm – 6 pm
• Phone: +49 (30) 98397466