The Wines
2014 Riesling Trocken Schwarzer Herrgott
This wine tightens every cell of my body. The minerality is drilling deeply into the receptors. No bells and whistles, this Riesling wants to come to a point and convinces with precision. Sensual enjoyment. Happiness, that is being replaced by anticipation because these calcareous notes, accompanied by fresh apple promises a lot from the beginning and lets the tension rise to have this wine on the palate. Everything seems firm, slim, self-contained and printingful. Everyone should have tried this wine, which really does not rip a hole into the purse.
2014 Riesling Trocken Zellertal
Up the mountain or down the mountain? The second Riesling, from the location of the Zellertal, stays stringent in its characteristics, like its brother Schwarzer Herrgott. It is not so tight, but the razor-sharp precision and the chalky impression stays. Fruit is slightly more reduced. You can taste a hint of exotic fruit though. It stays on the palate for a long time with its solid grip. Up the mountain or down the mountain? You do not have to climb up a summit every day. But here, you are going to be brought back to the ground as soon as the bottle is empty. A great altitude flight with a Riesling.
2014 Weissburgunder Trocken Karlspfad
Let’s talk about boring wines. But not about this wine. This Pinot Blanc is the exact opposite. This wine is full bodied, with an incredible melting. The sourness is integrated nicely and always present, so you do not move into a buttery, cheesy direction. There is some sort of cool stylistic in the background. And somehow, the label seems to catch the taste condition. Carefree floatation above the summit of the Wotanfels. Long, elegant and rough.
2014 Scheurebe Trocken Zellertal
Do not shy the Scheurebe. Even though the Riesling and the Pinot Blanc presented themselves already very nicely, you should also try the Scheurebe. The connection between the calcareous grounds and this grape variety results in this wine, which brings the facets of the Riesling and the Pinot Blanc slenderly into the bottle. The structure is noticeable, spice and fruit are balanced well and together with the hint of minerality they make an all-rounder wine, which is fascinating with its nicely elaborated varietal character. Give the Scheurebe a chance!
The Interview
Your location: Half is Palatinate region and the other half is Rhinehessen. It is directly on the border. Why is your location not only half a job?
We personally see our belonging to the Palatine Region. Because we exist since 708 AD we are the birthplace of the Palatine wine growing. And with the Zeller Schwarzer Herrgott we own one of the oldest German vineyard locations. But the Zellertal is the Zellertal. Independent wines are being developed, that do not try to fit in any pattern. They simply taste like the Zellertal. We do not make any compromises there.You are still a pretty young vinery. And you are independent, which is why you have your own style. But what style do you want?
Because of our sparse grounds, they are characterised by limestone and clay, we would like people to be able to taste the unique origin, without the typicality of grape variety to be gone. Mineral, of course, with depth and pressure – those are our wines. Pleasant wines with sweetness are everywhere.
Georg, you studied business administration before and you worked in some agencies. Was that not exciting enough? Or why did you go over to wine growing?
Of course, my studies were exciting, especially because I was able to take a look at different sectors. But to create something for my own, in which you can put all your lifeblood and simply the fun of wine growing made me decide to lead this vinery with Stephan.
You are both responsible for your vinery. One of you studied oenology, the other one is businessman. Does the distribution of roles and work stay like that?
In our family vineyard we do not have such strict roles. Everyone has there focus, but according to where there is work to do at the moment, we help each other.
If you take a look at your website then you see that it looks very modern as a label. What do you think: What role will modern communication have in the future of wine business?
Modern communication is an important topic that is going to gain importance more and more. But you have to feel comfortable with your own appearance and the label needs to fit the style of the wine. To stay successful, quality is the most important factor.
And now very concrete: Your label. It already was progressive for Germany to put a photo on the tags. German winegrowers are rather conservative with their designs. What have you planned for the future concerning wine and design?
Our style of wine is pretty individual for being in the Palatine region. And that is also what we would like to show on the label. We let picture talk and we do not overburden the wine consumer with too much text. The wine is supposed to stand for itself. We picked up the topic on our website with more pictures and videos. And with the xMountain we are going into the next round. The label is very puristic and the person who drinks the wine is not being crowded by gaudy colours or slogans. The wine can simply spray its effect around.
In 2014 you changed into biological cultivation. So when is the first natural wine or orange wine coming? I mean, you have to increase at some point…?
The change into biological cultivation was a good thing for our wine. We stay closely to nature and we try to only influence if it is necessary. Our goal are wines, like they grow at ours and that in a pure form. We are no fans of orange wines. We feel like they take a piece of origin off the wine. We are just going to let other people have this passion.
Your motto is „sua sponte“ – everything from own strength. After 2011 there were some moving years, until now. What was the most striking thing that happened to you as winegrowers and private people?
We changed a lot since 2011, which slowly pays off. To be part of the VDP leading talent programme and the developing interest on the Zellertal make us proud. The new construction of our wine house was a very big step. To build it, we teared away our childhood home – that was a very emotional decision, especially for our parents. But it gives us strength to see, that our decisions were right and you can get actual confirmation for it.
What is your perfect wine moment?
With friends! To drink, to eat and to have fun!
What did you always want to say – our „shout it out loud-corner“:
The Zellertal: 10 years ago it was notorious; everyone laughed about us. And now some people are proud to have their own vineyards near the Zellertal or they are showing off with their sparse grounds with limestone and clay.
This goes out to everyone: We are from the Zellertal; get to know our wines!
