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    15:55 PM
  • Wine average?

    93 Tb
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    26
  • Region Ranking?

    7
  • Popularity ranking?

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News

Wine Rarity of the Weingüter Wegeler Auctioned for Around 4,000 Euro in Trier

During the famous Mosel Auction of rare wines, which took place in Trier on  September 20th, 2019, more than 13,000 bottles were auctioned. One of these bottles was our 1959 Trockenbeerenauslese from the famous Bernkasteler Doctor - the most expensive and first vineyard in Germany which received 100 points from Robert Parker for a dry Riesling (Weingut Molitor). A Riesling lover spent a lot of money for the 0.7 liter bottle: 4,057.90 € was the final bid (3,100 € final bid + 5% commission + 5% award subsequent + VAT; Source: VDP Mosel).

We are a family-run estate with a sense for our history and tradition. Since 4 generations now, we share the same passion for Riesling, which we cultivate to a 100% in our vineyards along the Rhine and the Mosel river banks.

Our credo is "quality is our philosophy" and that is the way we work today, just like 130 years ago, when our estate had been founded. We produce exclusively high-quality Riesling: with traditional, ecological wine-growing and mostly with manual work.

You can taste and buy our wines from Rhine and Mosel as well as the ones of our partner vinery KRONE Assmannhausen in our Rheingau Estate in Oestrich-Winkel.

Our tasting-room is open Monday – Friday between 08:00 h and 17:00 h, on Saturdays between 11:00 h and 16:00 h. Should you wish to visit us outside these opening hours, we are happy to make an individual arrangement.

We hope to welcome you soon !

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History

Like books, wine glasses are destined for a certain fate. Patiently, with no regrets, they hold everything that is poured into them, indifferent to whether it is noble or common, expensive or downright cheap wine. Wine glasses come into contact with numerous pairs of lips, regardless of whether they are the lips of a beautiful woman, a disappointed lover, a lost drunkard or a connoisseur. The encounter between human and glass may spark stories, anecdotes, and, later, legends… but the glasses remain silent and bear the traces of time. A similar trace is one drawn by Dr Tom Drieseberg, the Principal of the Wegeler house, into the gravel: the lines of the most important emblem of the winery. The “J” stands for his jubilee wine, the dry Rhinegau Riesling Geheimrat “J”.

 

In the early 1980s, the Rhinegau Riesling was in free-fall. Many of the achievements that men such as Julius Wegeler had once reached seemed to have been lost: there was no culture of Riesling any more, the appreciation for this wine was gone and with it the prices had plummeted. Indifferent, cheap sweet wines dominated the market; the German wine laws from 1971 destroyed the previously reliable assurance of the value of wines depending on the site on which it grew. Now, the value of a wine was dependent on its sugar content, measured in Oechsle degrees, rather than its class, history or vineyard site.

 

Rolf Wegeler, grand-nephew of the privy councillor, was at that time responsible for the Deinhard company and the Wegeler vineyards. He and his estate manager Norbert Holderrieth belonged to the generation under which German viticulture saw its most severe departure from tradition and lost its most substantial legacy – its appreciation – within only a few years. It was therefore in a precarious situation. The merit of Holderrieth and Wegeler was having become aware of their responsibility and trying to find a solution. Norbert Holderrieth found the solution in 1983 with the Geheimrat J. He came to the Wegeler estate administration in Oestrich as a young man, and therefore has first-hand experience of the old Rhinegau Riesling era. Holderrieth’s first vintage, the 1959 Riesling Kabinett, still has a powerful structure, resolute taste and style. However, his masterpiece was to become the Geheimrat J, which the now seventy-year-old Holderrieth simply calls the “Jot”, following the pronunciation of the letter J in German.

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Vineyards

The first vintage of the Geheimrat was harvested in 1983. It was not until 1985 that the wine was sold and that was in itself radical at the time. A dry Riesling with expression and style. Not an impostor, but a wine that keeps its promises. However, the ‘Jot’ didn’t come out of the blue. Its success was built on history, in the sense that there is a great feeling of the power of historical events in the Wegeler family, a sense that recognises tradition as a burden as well as an opportunity.

 

The crisis in German viticulture in the 80s opened up the opportunity to realise that something had come to an end that was no longer sustainable. In every crisis, separate paths are found. The one who wants to persist has to have something up his sleeve: an insight into the essence of the past that will prevail into the future. The very German Riesling culture, which flourished in the late 19th century and shone well into the past century, perished, not least because it was not appreciated in its own country so it was no longer maintained or cared for. Having arrived at such a disillusioned perception, it was possible to renew a tradition in the present time, without merely renovating, restoring or preserving it.

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Winemaking

Rolf Wegeler did not wish to produce modern wines, since they can be copied. Wegeler attempted to go back to an essential characteristic of the dry Riesling: a mere shadow of residual sweetness balances the fine complex acidity of the Riesling, within the realm of dryness. Therefore the Riesling’s delicate fragrance and structure can unfold even after centuries, and with it, it ascertains the highest appreciation to the Rhinegau soil in this climate well beyond borders.

The “Jot” is composed from one variety, Riesling, but not only from one vineyard. The grapes come from the best Rhinegau sites, such as Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg, Berg Roseneck and Berg Rottland or Geisenheimer Rothenberg and Oestricher Lenchen. The wines are fermented and vinified separately according to the sites; they are blended in the spring that follows the harvest and composed to become the Geheimrat J. It consists mainly of the three elements that are characteristic of its sites’ soils, which determine this Riesling’s structure and taste: slate, quartzite and loamy loess. The Ruedesheim slopes are characterised by slate with a high content in iron oxide, and the Geisenheim sites contain mainly Taunus quartzite. Both of these contribute to a stony character which creates the impression of sturdiness. The Oestrich sites with their fertile loess and loam soils, by contrast, give a mellow and voluptuous though entirely charming note to this Riesling. The “Jot” is not merely mineral and steel; there is also something floral and a conciliatory resonance in this wine.

 

At the Rheingau estate, we select and harvest most of the grapes by hand. Because the vineyards of our Mosel estate are extremely steep, the harvest at the Moselle is done 100% manually.

From the vineyard, the grapes are immediately brought to the estate for processing. The most important aspect is their gentle treatment.Because we use the gravitation principle, the grapes do not suffer any mechanical strain. After having been unloaded at the receipt station, the grapes are gently pressed.

The grape must is then left to sediment overnight. During this process, the solids deposit at the bottom, and the must clarifies naturally. The next step for the Moselle wines is the fermentation in cooled stainless steel tanks with the addition of cultured as well as wild yeasts. In the Rheingau estate, specially selected wines are additionally matured in large barrels of aged oak. Reductive maturing in the stainless steel tank, i.e. under exclusion of oxygen and free of micro-oxidation, preserves the prevailing fruit perfumes, the so-called primary aromas, together with the wines' distinct character and elegance. Wines matured in large barrels of aged oak are subject to micro-oxidation caused by the oxygen penetrating through the pores of wood. Wines aged in this way excel by their maturity and multi-facetedness, and above all by their extraordinary creaminess. In general, we mature wines in barrels from 15 to 6000 liters of size.

Following the fermentation - which will not be completed before springtime for most wines -, the new wines are left in contact with the fine yeast for some time. Depending on the type and selection of the wine, they may remain on the fine yeast until the summer months. Before bottling, they are filtered once. Pursuant to their aroma profile, the wines retain their natural residual sweetness. Bottling starts in spring and lasts till summer. After its second fermentation, the Geheimrat "J" Riesling sparkling wine brut is put on the fine yeast for 3 to 5 years, for special editions even up to 10 years.

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Inside information

Harvest Report 2013

Growing Season2013 was dominated by freak weather. A cool and wet May was followed by one of the warmest June since records started in Geisenheim in 1885. Still blooming was late in 2013. The late start of te ripening process in August turned the historic mointain sites in Rüdesheim and Geisenheim with their outstanding micro climate and their long ripening potential to the winners of the seasoon 2013. 

Must Weights: 80° Oechsle – 115° Oechsle

Acid Content: 7,7 - 13,0 g/l

Duration of Grape Harvest: October 14th - November 13th 2013

Highs and Lows:

  • Great wines from the steep, stony vineyards in Rüdesheim and Geisenheim with desired yield
  • Very difficult and swift harvest in the flat heavy soiled vineyards with a very small yield
  • Very aromatic wines with an elegant and distinct acidity
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19 different wines with 52 vintages

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