From the ashes of Liebfraumilch rises the twin-headed Phoenix of dry Riesling and Pinot Noir! The flat, fertile landscape of Rheinhessen is where it all went south for German wine. In the 60s, when the market for wine started in earnest, they said, “you want lots of sweet wine for not much money? We can do that.” Decades later, the image of German wine is shaking off Blue Nun and Black Tower and Goldene Oktober.
Becker-Landgraf (Gau-Odernheim)
This was another tip from Ursula Heinzelmann. Great Pinot from Rheinhessen? Do our ears deceive us? Our mouths say yes!
When Johannes Becker and Julia Landgraf married, they combined their respective family wineries and determined to make top-class, cool-climate, dry Riesling and silky Pinot Noir, slap bang in the rural centre of the region. They have already outgrown the basement below their house where they scuttle around with bended heads, checking their gleaming tanks and a handful of barrels. Julia’s Dad has a business making stainless steel tanks. When we rocked-up, they were pressing and fermenting their harvest in a tent. Never mind “garage-iste”, here’s the first “tent-iste” we have come across.
When we brought back Johannes and Julia’s Spatburgunder in September 2009, it sold out so fast we had to beg them for everything they had left. Which wasn’t much. This year we were knocking on their door pretty much the day after bottling. Johannes and Julia make top-class, cool-climate, silky Pinot Noir from the middle of the most unlikely part of Rheinhessen. It does help that Julia’s Grandfather had some old parcels of vines on the only hill for miles around, just outside their village of Gau-Odernheim.
Fritz Ekkehard Huff (Nierstein-Schwabsburg)
We had been looking for a great Nierstein ever since our beloved St Antony winery changed hands in 2005. A dinner at the excellent Schloss Sorgenloch restaurant deep in the Rheinhessen countryside ended in deep conversation with the owner, Thomas. Nierstein? Try this Rabenturm (Ravens Tower) by Fritz Ekkehard Huff. Yum. When we called, the daughter Christine said, “that’s amazing, I only dropped a single sample bottle off at Sorgenloch!” Fate.
Christine is fresh out of Geisenheim, the top German wine college and making bright, minerally dry Riesling from the iron-rich red cliffs overlooking the Rhine at Nierstein.
Riffel (Bingen)
Bingen is on a massive corner on the Rhine, opposite Rudesheim. It is at the north-western edge of the region where four wine-growing regions meet. Rheinhessen Nahe, Mittelrhein and the Rheingau. Carolin and Erik Riffel have vines in the full south-facing Bingen Scharlachberg vineyard. Millions of years ago the Rhine looped below it, which explains why the wines are more Rheingau in style than Rheinhessen. The Riffels make electric, dry, modern Riesling which express the steep mineral-laden slate it is grown on and the very late October harvesting which extracts maximum ripeness.
We owe thanks to the German Food Writer Ursula Heinzelmann for the tip. She was researching a piece about the wines Goethe drank and heard about the Scharlachberg. Thanks Ursula!
Battenfeld-Spanier (Hohen-Sulzen) ORGANIC
We hammered down the Autobahn into the Wonnegau, the deepest darkest south-eastern corner of Rheinhessen. Until recently this was the least-favoured spot in Germany’s least-favoured wine region. Now it is alive with hot-blooded, hot-headed young men. We already know Stefan Winter, Jochen Dreissigacker and Klaus-Peter Keller. Now here’s Hans-Oliver Spanier, the young owner of Battenfeld-Spanier who makes succulent modern dry Rieslings, stylish Sekt and Gruner Silvaner, the local speciality. Why is there a pram on his chimney? “Some mates of mine put it up there when I got married and I haven’t figured out how to get it down yet!
