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Subject: Village Guide to Rheingau (long)
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CarlUser is Offline
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02/12/2004 5:57 PM  
As a follow-on to the Mosel village guide, here is one for the Rheingau, another of Germany’s wine regions.

Village Guide to the Rheingau Wine Region
Carl McCarthy

Overview of the Rheingau
  • Comprised of 30 kilometers of high, south-facing slopes where the Rhine turns west at Wiesbaden to get around the Taunus hills (also includes a small piece of slope along the River Main on the other side of Wiesbaden); all-day exposure to sunlight, with river mists at night contributing to botrytis. Very obviously good place to grow wine.
  • Vinticultural source of German Riesling – wine was cultivated here since the twelfth century by Cistercian monks at Closter Eberbach. Schloss Johannisberg was making late harvest Spätlese by the 1780s and claim to have “discovered” botrytis around that time (rival contender is Tokai in Hungary).
  • According to the Hugh Johnson, “The Rheingau style of wine should be the noblest in Germany, uniting the flowery scent of the Riesling with a greater and more golden depth of flavour than the Mosel. It’s character is bolder, more mineral.”
  • Despite its historical reputation and obvious potential, Rheingau Rieslings have since the 1970s often lagged behind wines from other parts of Germany. Prestigious old estates – whose wines in the 1950s sold for the same prices as First Growth Bordeaux – rested on their laurels and did not invest, or made financial missteps. The tragic suicide of Count Greiffenclau in 1997 after financial problems caused his family’s Schloss Vollrads to go into receivership exemplifies the difficulties some of these great old estates faced.
  • Two historically great estates that seem particularly down-and-out lately are Schloss Reinhartshausen (formerly owned by the Prussian royal family) and Langwerth von Simmern. Also, the once great Schloss Eltz, whose 1975 Auslesen retails for EUR 150, has disappeared entirely.
  • According to the Gault-Millau Guide, in 2002 “good to very good wines were produced, but very rarely anything really extraordinary”. They also said that for the second vintage in a row, Josef Leitz made the best wines overall, from dry QbAs to sweet dessert wines.
  • Overall, in 2002 the most improved village was Hochheim according to Gault-Millau. By the way, Hochheimer wines were very popular in England in the 19th century, and give us the word “Hock”.
  • The 2002 vintage was very wet; as a result the flatter vineyards along the Rhine bank, such the first growths in Erbach and Hattenheim (except the Steinberg) as well as the Winkeler Jesuitengarten, were “nearly drowned with rainwater” according to the website Rheingauerwein.de, an independent guide to the wines of the Rheingau. They advise avoiding these sites, instead looking for higher sites, particularly in Rauenthal and Kiedrich.
  • In very dry years, however, these sites such as the Erbacher Marcobrunn and the Hattenheimer Wisselbrun, normally produce the best wines because the vines can get down to the water table even in a drought. "Brunn" means well or spring.
  • Perhaps the best sites in all the Rheingau are on the Rüdesheimer Berg (Rottland, Roseneck and Schlossberg) – the are steeply sloped but also right along the river. Leitz, Breuer and Kessler are big producers there. On the other hand, the Hugh Johnson atlas advises that in the hottest years, the Rüdesheimer Berg has a tendency to dry out.
  • Although the Rheingau no longer produces the very top German wines, it also produces less plonk than other regions like the Pfalz and Rheinhessen. Because of its relatively small size, privileged sites and preference for Riesling over more dubious German grapes, even a basic Rheingauer Riesling is passably good except in the worst years.


Key to the village guide:
  • Villages are generally listed upstream to downstream – basically east to west.
  • Notable wineries based in each village are indicated (with the Gault-Millau rating of each, expressed in "*"). “Notable” means either rated *** or higher, well-known in USA, or historically important. The highest rating is *****.
  • Hugh Johnson's First Class Vineyards are indicated. Taken from the Wine Atlas (5th ed). The VDP have produced a much larger list of "Erstes Gewächs" (First Growth) sites - Johnson criticizes it as covering too many vineyards, 35%!
  • Square brackets indicate producers in a particular vineyard.
  • Vineyard names are always written “village+er vineyard” (e.g. “Kiedricher Gräfenberg) except if the vineyard is an ortsteil – then the village name is dropped. E.g. the Steinberg not the Hattenheimer Steinberg.


Hockheim

Notable wineries:
Domdechant Werner'sches (***)
Franz Künstler (***)
Joachim Flick (***)(located in Flörsheim-Wicker)

First class vineyards:
Domdechaney [Domdechant Werner'sches, Franz Künstler, Kloster Eberbach]
Kirchenstück [Domdechant Werner'sches, Franz Künstler]
Hölle (most of it) [Domdechant Werner'sches, Franz Künstler, Joachim Flick]
Königen Victoriaberg [Königen Victoriaberg monopole]


Walluf

Notable wineries:
J.B. Becker (***)
Toni Jost (**)(in Bacharach)

First class vineyards: Walkenberg [Becker, Toni Jost]

Martinsthal

First class vineyards: Langenberg [all wineries growing on this site are currently rated “*” or less, e.g. Diefenhardt'sches]

Rauenthal

First class vineyards:
Nonnenberg (southern section) [Georg Breuer]
Rothenberg (middle section) [no noteworthy producers today; Schloss Eltz was once a famous producer here]
Gehrn [Kloster Eberbach]
Baiken [Schloss Schönborn, Freiherr von Simmern, Kloster Eberbach]

Eltville

Notable wineries:
Hans Lang (***)
Hessiche Staatsweingüter – Kloster Eberbach (**)
Freiherr Langwerth von Simmern (**)

First class vineyards:
Sonnenberg [Langwerth von Simmern, J.B. Becker]

Erbach

Notable wineries:
Jakob Jung (***)
Baron zu Knyphausen (**)
Schloss Reinhartshausen (*)

First class vineyards:
Marcobrunn [Schloss Schönborn, Knyphausen, Reinhartshausen]
Hohenrain (northern half) [Jakob Jung, Knyphausen]
Steinmorgen (southern half) [Jakob Jung, Knyphausen]
Siegelsberg [Knyphausen, Reinhartshausen]

Kiedrich

Notable wineries:
Robert Weil (****)

First class vineyards:
Gräfenberg [Robert Weil]
Wasseros [Robert Weil]

Hattenheim

Notable wineries:
Schloss Schönborn (***)
Balthasar Ress (**)

First class vineyards:
Nussbrunnen [Schloss Schönborn, Balthasar Ress, Reinhartshausen, Freiherr von Simmern]
Pfaffenberg [Schloss Schönborn monopole]
Wisselbrunnen [Hans Lang, Josef Spreitzer, Knyphausen, Reinhartshausen, Freiherr von Simmern]
Mannberg [von Simmern]
Engelmannsberg [no noteworthy producers today]
Steinberg ortsteil [Kloster Eberbach monopole](often called the Clos de Vougeot of the Rheingau after the famous Burgundy vineyard – both are walled medieval vineyards founded by Cistercian monks in the twelfth century)

Hallgarten

Notable wineries:
Prinz (***)

First class vineyards:
Schönhell [Prinz]

Oestrich

Notable wineries:
Peter Jakob Kühn (****)
Wegeler (***)
Josef Spreitzer (***)
Königen Victoriaberg (**)

First class vineyards:
Lenken [Peter Jakob Kühn, Josef Spreitzer]
Doosberg [Peter Jakob Kühn, Josef Spreitzer]

Schloss Vollrads

Notable wineries:
Schloss Vollrads (***)

First class vineyards:
Schloss Vollrads ortsteil (Schloss Vollrads monopole)

Winkel

Notable wineries: (see Oestrich)

First class vineyards:
Jesuitengarten (the western portion) [Wegeler, Johannishof, Josef Spreitzer, Prinz von Hessen]
Hasensprung [Prinz von Hessen]

Johannisberg

Notable wineries:
Johannishof (***)
Prinz von Hessen (***)

First class vineyards:
Hölle [Johannishof]

Schloss Johannisberg

Notable wineries:
Schloss Johannisberg (***)

First class vineyards:
Schloss Johannisberger ortsteil (Schloss Johannisberg monopole)

Geisenheim

First class vineyards:
Kläuserweg [Johannishof]
Rothenberg (southern half) [Wegeler]

Rüdesheim

Notable wineries:
Georg Breuer (****)
Josef Leitz (****)

First class vineyards:
Berg Rottland [Josef Leitz, Georg Breuer, Wegeler, Johannishof, Balthasar Ress]
Berg Schlossberg [Josef Leitz, Georg Breuer, August Kesseler, Krone, Wegeler, Balthasar Ress]
Berg Roseneck [Josef Leitz, Georg Breuer, August Kesseler]

Assmannshausen

Notable wineries:
August Kesseler (****)
Krone (***)
Hessiche Staatsweingüter - Domaine Assmannshausen (**)

First class vineyards:
Höllenberg [August Kesseler, Hessiche Staatsweingüter, Krone]
ormbeeUser is Offline
Barrel Sampler
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02/12/2004 9:05 PM  
Awesome, thanks. Will you be doing Nahe? These are great!!!!
CarlUser is Offline
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Posts:462


02/12/2004 9:42 PM  
I was going to do the Pflaz next (mainly the Mittelhaart section). But after that I can tackle the Nahe.
ormbeeUser is Offline
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02/12/2004 11:41 PM  
Awesome thanks
Jeremy MatthewUser is Offline
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02/12/2004 11:47 PM  
Cheers once again CB.
ChangeMeUser is Offline
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02/13/2004 1:36 AM  
I'm going to put up a big warning sign for the Rheingau. Many of the most famous producers are seriously underperforming. "Newer" faces like Leitz, Kesseler and Breuer are carrying the standard for this once great region, but the old names still tarnish its reputation.

CB has covered some of this with his excellent notes, but I cannot stress how disappointed I have been the last few years in wines from the likes of Schloss Schonborn, von SImmern and Kloster Eberbach. They have the great advantage of superior terroir and do nothing with it. It's much like some of the plonk from grand cru sites in Burgundy. I wish the vineyard plots could be taken away from them and given to Johannes Leitz!

Here's hoping that the "great" estates can be great once again. Unfortunately I doubt it will happen.
Pool BoyUser is Offline
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02/13/2004 3:28 AM  
wow. grazie!
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com
CarlUser is Offline
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02/13/2004 8:14 AM  
Rieslingfan, I agree regarding the disappointing quality. The Kabinett wines from Reinhartshausen and Closter Eberbach were among the biggest let-downs of the 2001s I tasted. And Schloss Vollrad's offering was nothing special, I thought.

But they certainly have some nice old buildings.

My photos from Spring 2003 are here:

Schloss Johannisberg

Closter Eberbach

Schloss Vollrads

Schloss Reinhartshausen

Robert Weil's winery looks tres California in comparison!

Robert Weil

(These are large files - fast internet connection needed)
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