Weingut P. Jakob Kühn

Displaying remarkable purity and freshness, the wines of Peter Jakob Kühn are truly something special. 

Stephan Reinhardt, writing for Wine Advocate, agrees: “I am running out of superlatives for this biodynamic domain that never fails to surprise me whenever I taste the wines. This is one of Germany's icon producers, and the Rieslings are among the finest Rieslings from planet wine.”

The Kühn family has been making wine in the unique conditions of the small Rheingau region for over 230 years. When they took over in the 1970s, Peter Jakob Kühn and his wife Angela dedicated themselves to producing wines of the highest quality that captured the true essence of their 18 hectares of vineyards on the banks of the Rhine.  

Their son Peter Bernhard is now the winemaker and continues the family’s tradition of maintaining a focus on nature. The estate gained biodynamic certification in 2004 and all grapes are hand harvested. Indigenous yeasts are used during winemaking with no external fining agents in order to maintain the purity of the estate’s sites that include south-sloping vineyards next to the Rhine near the villages of Oestrich and Hallgarten.

Amid changing regulations for German winemakers, the family has gained more flexibility to age their wines longer before bottling. The single-site wines are aged for three years before release and even the estate and village wines typically spend a year in the cellar.  This added time enhances the wines’ complexity and allows them to find a better balance before their release.  

The Oestrich Doosberg hilltop site is one of the Kühn’s top vineyards and is classified as a Grosse Lage by the VDP. The frequent winds here help keep the grapes dry, protecting them from fungal disease and providing optimal conditions for long ripening times.  

The below chart shows Peter Jakob Kühn’s 2018 Doosberg Grosses Gewachs (GG) wine has the highest score (by Wine Advocate) since at least 2013 with prices already trending higher compared to the preceding years. The fits a wider trend of high-quality recent vintages driving a growing interest in German fine wine. 

Another Grosse Lage VDP site is the Mittelheim Sankt Nikolaus vineyard, which is named after a statue of the saint on its edge. This site has vines over 60 years old and produces some wonderfully complex wines. The chart below reveals some relative value opportunities from a price per point perspective among the most recently scored vintages. 

This highlights the potential for price growth among their recent wines. But we think there is more potential for growth for all of Peter Jakob Kühn’s wines, including the yet-to-be released 2019 and 2020 vintages, as the world fully appreciates the potential in German Riesling.

Our Estate has been in the family for roughly 230 years. Especially in the last three decades our appreciation of this long-standing tradition has determined the way we work more and more. With respect for the knowledge and the experience of our forefathers, we have been working as a fully certified member of the Demeter association since 2004, according to biodynamic principles.  Consequently we have gotten ever closer to our idea of a soulful wine in the greatest possible harmony with nature.

The estate in its present form was built by Peter Jakob and Angela. When they took over the family business in the 70ies, the first had to create new location. From this base, they constantly worked to develop and refine the quality of the wines further.
A great affirmation of our work and our journey was the victory at the German Riesling Competition  with our 1991 Riesling of the Oestrich Doosberg. This was one of many small, but important milestones in our development. 

It is our absolute conviction that ecological and biodynamic viniculture is our future - with its large and small challenges, as well as infinite moments of joy and the growing certainty to be doing what is absolutely right for us.

One of  the essential foundations of biodynamics is the perception of the agricultural organisation as a distinct organism, which, like all other orgnisms is tied into the living rhythm of the cosmos. In this endeavour to see, think and act holistically probably lies the central difference in comparison with conventional agriculture. Not only the four seasons play an important part in biodynamics,  but also the smaller units of nature`s rhythm - from the phases of the moon to the time of day, which can be suited  more or less  for certain applications.

As vintners it is part of our task to intervene with nature by sensitively cultivating it. The idea of biodynamics is to disturb nature as little as possible, creating a balance between nature and plantation. We achieve this for instance by applying natural compost, this way returning to the soil what our vines drain as nutrients. Due to these and other measures - like diverse planting - we sustain the quality and vitality of our soil also long-term.  The compost, which mainly consists of cow dung is “inoculated”  with various compost preparations, which in turn we also make ourselves from organic substances and plant parts. These preparations are applied similarly to homoeopathy  in minimal doses. It is their task, to initiate and regulate the rotting process.

Above all, biodynamics has also changed us profoundly and has brought back sensitivity and empathy to us. Today we have a real relationship with all living things in our vineyards, as we understand them better and know of the part they play in the ecosystem. We don’t just encounter weeds, vermin, and diseases, but a contained and logical system of cause and effect, which we just need to understand better and that we can influence gently but efficiently. This changed perspective of things, and especially the change in the fruits of our labour make us today deeply happy and grateful.

To develop genuinely individual wines, full of character we do not follow set recipes. Each vintage and each harvest of grapes dictates which measures are sensible or necessary. Every time it is a renewed effort to come close to the desired ideal. And exactly like in the vineyard we have rediscovered the old to be the “new” for us in our cellar work.

For us, making wine revolves around a particular vision, an idea. Wine happens in the head. In the cellar we follow one strategy above all others: give the wine enough time and rest, so it can develop in its own right. Here everything is grounded on our work in the vineyard. The grape has to be picked and pressed in a way that we do not have to intervene later on, because a healthy must finds its own way. Good tasting grapes are paramount. The analytical values of acidity and sugar are circumstantial. Here, everything comes to fruition which - with the exception of the weather - we have built in our vineyards for a long time.

Our grapes are picked by many industrious hands, by people who diligently hold each cluster in their hands, before they decide with experience and sensitivity into which bucket they will be dropped. Back at the estate the pickings will then slowly be worked on. In the press the grapes yield their must under low pressure over several hours. The cluster structure acts like a natural filter cake in the press basket. The must runs from the press, opaque and cloudy into the cellar, where it lies for a night before being put to rest in its new home.