Atelier Sanssouci: minimalist look, maximum taste

The official menu starts with Geiger's No. 32 - Riesling, apple & herbs on the non-alcoholic side, with the 22 Pinot Funky Pinot Blanc by Matthias Schuh (from the magnum), which the winemaker made exclusively for him (and in the future also a little together with him). There's not much of it left, although Mr. Pietzonka took the whole barrel back then. Why the two drinks? To go with the beetroot, which was in a buttermilk broth and didn't taste as earthy as it sometimes does.

Pumpernickel potato chips went perfectly with the theme of lightness, making this a fresh, early spring starter.

Two wines with the soup? Why not!

The soup was more about the inner values: Egg yolk and Perigord truffle. What comes with it is perhaps secondary, right? In this case, a velouté of black salsify, which lived up to its reputation as a winter asparagus with its nutty and slightly spicy flavor. As is so often the case, it's the little things that give a course its kick - not the truffle, but the idea of adding fried pieces of salsify to the velouté. No wine with soup is my personal credo, but here Jens Pietzonka broke all custom: instead of the one wine he had planned, he served me two (namely the one I had deselected for the main course because I hadn't eaten the skrei). Of course, he didn't have to push for long, because the Chardonnay A. by Philipp Wittmann was another exclusive bottling for Pietzonka, which he wrested from his winemaker friend (if I remember correctly) during a visit - because Philipp Wittmann found it hard to part with this Aulerde wine.  Same vintage (2022), different grape variety and different wine-growing region in a different glass: a Pinot Blanc (not a Pinot Blanc...) from Matthias Schuh's Klausenberg monopollage. Exciting to compare, great to enjoy - also with soup, surprisingly, and not just afterwards solo until the main course.

Fish or meat? Skrei or venison?

Fish or meat, skrei or venison? If there are two of you, you can try both! And, see the comments on portion size at the beginning, you may well get a brief fright. Aren't the days of minimalist portions over? Is the idea of spinach leaves still compatible with the idea of spinach leaves in your head and the result on the plate? There is an immediate discrepancy, but this gives way to a realization as we eat: somehow the desired flavours were there after all, the juiciness of the skrei was delightful, we were amazed by the decollage of the potato, which was made up of many small sticks, and we accepted the two leaves of spinach. And enjoyed the Riesling sauce with the skrei, which was comparatively generously portioned. Saddle of venison with the addition "Baden-Baden" is classic through and through, but of course only prepared in a classic way here. So a piece of venison (from the Dresden Heath, where else?) arrives on the plate perfectly cooked with unsurpassed tenderness and seasoning, the spaetzle is covered in braised venison and the Schicken, which used to be in the venison and was wrapped around the meat after the Spick boom during barbecuing, was now on the plate separately as a home-smoked chip and third flavor and texture variant. This was already much more sophisticated than Johannes Mario Simmel had described in his novel "Es muß nicht immer Kaviar sein" (subtitled: Die tolldreisten Abenteuer und auserlesenen Kochrezepte des Geheimagenten wider Willen Thomas Lieven). But that was also in 1960... (It would be appropriate to rave about the 2019 Pinotage that Markus Schneider made in his South Africa project in Stellenbosch, but it would be irritating: unfortunately, it's now finished - there'll be a replacement for the coming days...)

At the end, a perfectly baked chocolate tartlet with a grandiose liquid center once again provided great pleasure, which was not accompanied by the perhaps expected port wine, but a kindred spirit from the municipality of Oeiras west of Lisbon. There was a lot of wine there in the old days, but phylloxera and the fifth crop rotation "villa cultivation" almost brought the old tradition to a standstill. Now the municipality is working with the winery to preserve the last 20 hectares. The Carcavelos Superior, matured for seven years in Portuguese and French oak barrels, brings a fine saltiness to the liqueur wine - the coastal cultivation on red limestone makes this possible. As the saying goes: you can do it! And please pour again ;-)

Menu

• RED BEETS
  Pumpernickel | buttermilk | dill
• VELOUTÉ FROM THE BLACK ROOT
  Yolk | Perigord truffle
• FILET OF CREAM
  Leaf spinach | Annabell-Potato
  OR
  CREAM "BADEN-BADEN"
  Pear | Cranberry
• VALRHONA CHOCOLATE
  Egg liqueur espuma

Drink accompaniment

• Villa Sorgenfrei sparkling wine Brut, Schloss Wackerbarth, Saxony
• 2022 Pinot Funky Weissburgunder, Matthias Schuh, Saxony - exclusive bottling for Jens Pietzonka
• 2022 A. Chardonnay, Philipp Wittmann, Rheinhessen - exclusive bottling for Jens Pietzonka
• 2022 Pinot Blanc MONOPOL Klausenberg, Matthias Schuh, Saxony (for the Skrei)
  OR
  2019 Pinotage Markus Schneider, Stellenbosch (for the venison)
• Carcavelos Superiore, Villa Oeiras, Portugal

Info

• Menu incl. drinks, water, espresso. Accompanied drinks, water, espresso 149 €

Atelier Sanssouci
Augustusweg 48
01445 Radebeul

Tel +49 351  7956660
hotel-villa-sorgenfrei.de

[Visited on March 5, 2026]