Germany Releases

Hofgut Falkenstein is a relatively youthful estate having been established by Erich and Maria Weber in 1981, in the Saar Valley, in close proximity to the famous Scharzhofberger vineyard. Despite the recent history of the estate, they are working on some of the most famous and historically important vineyards of the Saar. Erich, and his son Johannes have quickly attracted a great deal of press attention. Their approach is making wine in the traditional way, with sustainable farming practices (having converted to organics in 2021), and minimal intervention in the winery, using indigenous yeasts and old oak: a key part of their philosophy. The estate consists of 10 hectares, of which one hectare includes ungrafted vines.

This is one for Riesling purists. At Weingut Peter Lauer, in the small village of Ayl in the Saar Valley, the focus in on dry-tasting Rieslings with tension, purity, and salinity. Now run by Florian Lauer since 2005, the estate farms regeneratively, using many organic techniques. In the cellar, Florian talks of the wines ‘hibernating’ in cask over a period of long, slow fermentation. Each cask corresponds to a distinctive style and a special point of origin. The must from specific vineyards is always vinified in the same container as the previous year. The cask is thereby unique.

Maximin Grünhäus is a wonderfully traditional estate situated by the Ruwer river. It is known for its holdings of 3 contigious vineyards: Abtsberg, Herrenberg, and Bruderberg. Each plot has its own distinct microclimate, aspect and soil that lends itself to unique Riesling expressions. Work in the vineyards is finely tuned with nature, with organic fertilisers and wild herb cover crops preferred to pesticides or herbicides. Grapes are harvested by hand in several passes to capture perfect ripeness levels across the vintage. The cellar is minutes from the vineyards to ensure quick pressing after harvest, which retains aromatics. Depending on vintage conditions, grapes are destemmed or whole-bunch-pressed, before clarification through natural settling. Stefan ferments using indigenous yeasts, in small stainless-steel tanks and classic large oak casks, made by local coopers using wood from the estate’s own forests. Maximin von Schubert and his winemaker Stefan Kraml lead this highly regarded winery that continues to produce stand out, long lived, crystalline Rieslings.

The vineyards here are no stranger to history: they date back to 1605. The Haag family are the current incumbents, with 17.5 prime hectares entirely devoted to Riesling in Brauneberg (“brown mountain”), the area known for its brown slate along the Mosel. They’ve vines in the two most famous plots here: Brauneberger Juffer and Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr (the area with the sundial, or “sonnenuhr”). The name of the vineyards, “juffer”, dates to the 1790s, a reference to the three “juffers” (“old maid” daughters) who took over from their father at the time. Wilhelm Haag helped put his family’s wines on the world fine wine map, and his son Oliver joined in 2005 to help. With precise winemaking starting with the very clones they select, the Haags have not hesitated to bring new ideas to very old winemaking traditions if it leads to the best, purest wines.

One of the most highly sought names of Germany’s Mosel Valley, Weingut Willi Schaefer is also one of the oldest: their history dates to 1121. Remaining steadfastly a family winery, Willi and his son Christoph work entirely by hand, growing exclusively Riesling grapes from vines over a hundred years old on the steep Devonian slate slopes of Graacher Dompropst and Graacher Himmelreich (“Kingdom of Heaven”), as well as Wehlener Sonnenuhr. These are some of the purest Rieslings we know and age extraordinarily well.

Dönnhoff are based in the Nahe region of Germany, noted for its diverse soils, which are beautifully expressed in Dönnhoff’s single vineyard wines. The family winery has existed since the mid-18th century, but has reached its highest level under Helmut Dönnhoff, at the helm since 1971. The fourth generation now holds the reins: Cornelius Dönnhoff. He began his training in 1999 and, after a series of positions abroad, in 2007 returned to assume responsibility for the estate. Dönnhoff’s wines are a true standard bearer for the Nahe and its diverse terroir – they are wonderfully elegant, timeless, and refreshing.

Tim Fröhlich, who took over his family winery at the age of 21 back in 1995, has made a name for himself crafting wines of tension, precision and crystalline energy from his 21 hectares of vines around Bockenau in the Nahe. A terroir fanatic, Tim captures the varied soils of his vineyards in a very transparent and precise way. Even in warm vintages the wines keep incredible focus and freshness.

Schloss Johannisberg, is one of the most celebrated wineries in Germany, producing exquisite wines with a rich history. Having been replanted to exclusively Riesling in the early 18th Century, Schloss Johannisberg reputation is for producing exceptional Riesling wines that showcase the unique terroir of the Schloss Johannisberg hill in the Rheingau, and under the guidance of Stefan Doktor this historical estate is establishing itself at the very top of the world of wine, vintage after vintage.

Since more than 230 years, Weingut Peter-Jacob Kühn has been tending the vineyards around the family house in Oestrich in the Rheingau. It is a story of winemaking expertise that passes through now 11 generations of the family under the direction of Peter-Bernhard and his wife Viktoria. It is one of the few estates in Germany to be farmed biodynamically. The estate marches to their own drum beat and are now releasing their 2022 dry whites as well as their extraordinary 2019 Sekt. The wines here are taut and minerally in their youth and develop aromatic herbal characters with time in the bottle. They achieve a striking balance of ripeness, complexity, and elegance.

Oliver Spanier set up Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier in 1991, when he was only 19 years old. The estate has been certified organic since 1993, and biodynamically since 2005. The estate is based in the south of Rheinhessen, in the village of Hohen-Sulzen, with vineyards in the surrounding communes. Here the soils are almost exclusively limestone, which gives the wines structure, focus, and wonderful citrus lifts. These soils are rarely found elsewhere in Germany. In 2016 Oliver married Carolin Gillot of Kühling-Gillot, uniting two of Rheinhessen’s greatest estates. And the renown of these two estates, run separately but under the same roof, is only growing. Indeed, this is currently one of Germany’s most exciting addresses.

Kühling-Gillot’s prime holdings are on the Roter Hang (red slope), an iron-rich strip between Nierstein and Nackenheim along the Rhine. Caroline who has managed her family estate since 2006, works with her husband Oliver Spanier (of Battenfeld-Spanier) who she married in 2016 bringing together two of the most prestigious estates in the Rheinhessen. She farms prime plots in this section of the upper Rheinhessen biodynamically creating wines with incredible purity and tension.

Located in the cool, Ahr Valley, is Weingut Jean Stodden. This has become a destination for lovers of Pinot Noir within and well beyond Germany. The Stodden family have a history of growing vines that dates back to 1578 but they started making their own wines in their family winery since 1900. Today, and since 2001, the winery is managed by Alexander Stodden who says himself ‘his heart throbs for Pinot’. Farming here is as sustainable as possible using many organic techniques. Certainly inspired by the greatest Pinot Noirs of the world, the style here is both serious and seductive. Look out in particular for the Recher Herrenberg GG.

Weingut Fürst has a long history of vine growing in Fraken dating back to 1638. In 1979, Paul and Monika Fürst took over what was a mixed farm, and began to focus on wine, acquiring choice vineyards along the way, and growing the estate to its current 21 hectares, with over 60% Pinot Noir. After studies in Geisenheim and experience in Burgundy, Alsace, Spain and South Africa, not to mention other German estates, Sebastian Fürst joined in 2007, and took control of the estate in 2018. This is an estate that continues to improve in quality year after year with a focus on Burgundian varieties made with a very elegant touch.