Winery
How it all started...
...is actually quickly told: The fact that I became a winemaker was, as the saying goes, in my cradle. Even my great-grandfather was a winegrower and wine merchant at the same time. My grandfather then founded our current family winery in Rhodt unter Rietburg and from the 1950s he was one of the first to bottle his own wines here. That was pretty far ahead at the time. And when there was nothing to do at the winery, he simply strapped a box with sample bottles onto the bicycle rack and took the train across the country. Up to the area around Göttingen. For example, he introduced whole fire brigade associations to our liquid Palatinate joie de vivre. Sounds like “punk marketing” these days, but it worked.
Unmistakable wines
Wine is certainly the most diverse and, for me, the most fascinating stimulant of all. Above all, most people expect uncomplicated drinking pleasure and I think that's perfectly fine. Wine can also be that today – in contrast to the times when it was reserved for the rich and powerful. But there is also much greater potential: France in particular came up with the idea that wine should be about origin, about the "terroir". About natural conditions such as the soil or the microclimate, but also about the people who produce it - in short: about everything that makes it unique. Nice thought! And today I mainly pursue this with my higher-quality wines and try to refine it further and further.
An endless way
Today, with our 16 hectares of vineyards, we are on the direct path to organic certification, which will be completed with the 2021 vintage, and we are also pursuing biodynamic approaches in the vineyards. Why? Because there is no other form of cultivation that better implements my idea of viticulture and none takes nature, the soil and its vitality so intensively into account. For me, the most natural and sustainable cultivation possible, but also spontaneous fermentation and long yeast storage are important building blocks that take me further on the way to “my” wines and increasingly shape them. They have already changed as a result, especially in the top quality and will continue to develop in my search for the optimum, towards more and more individual expression.
And in my opinion, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir best reflect this special expression of the wines in the interplay of origin and craftsmanship. But also the Syrah, which as the second red wine variety next to the Pinot, inspires me very much with its cool, spicy and at the same time fine style. This is how unmistakable unique pieces are created, which gain in precision and elegance with maturity. Observing their development over the years and smelling and tasting their development – that is extremely exciting for me. That's why I'm of the opinion that my wines can also be drunk a few years later and can therefore be experienced a little more peacefully. The “perfect wine” is and will of course remain an unattainable goal. But even the way there gives me a lot of joy and every step in this direction is worth the effort.
My range is divided into two lines today: Simple everyday wines in the Palatinate tradition - wines with higher standards in the upscale line, which is divided into soil types, local and site wines. By the way, detailed information on the individual stages of development and wines can be found in our shop .
