Grapes: 90% Riesling, 10% others: Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc, Scheurebe, Ehrenfelser
Region: Rheinhessen, Germany
Vintage: 2023
Viticulture: Biodynamic + Regenerative
Soils: red slate, limestone, and loess
Vinification: Pinot blanc and Müller-Thurgau are sometimes co-fermented, the other varieties are vinified separately. Grapes are foot-crushed and macerated for about 3 days. Pressed for 12 or more hours. Ambient yeast fermentation. Laissez-faire malolactic conversion.
Aging: Aged for 10-11 months in used barrels and/or 1200 L foudres under flor.
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None
Notes from the Importer: With a 650 year history and vines at the Roter Hang, the south-facing slopes of the Rhine river, prized and renowned for their red slate soils, Weingut Schätzel is a traditional winery by anyone’s standards. The cellar is 12th century and 75% of the vineyards are VDP-classified Grosse Lage and Erste Lage, with parcels in Rothenberg, Pettenthal, Hipping and Ölberg. It’s not the setting you would expect to hear the words ‘modern wines’, but this is what Kai Schätzel and Jule Eichblatt are producing: wines that ‘combine natural processes and sensitive craftsmanship’ and rely on both technology and tradition. In the vineyard, biodynamic preparations are sprayed with drones to avoid ground compaction, while in the cellar wines mature in old oak barrels beneath a veil of flor; a natural layer of yeast typically associated with sherry and the vin jaune of Jura. Kai took over the winery in 2008 and began farming organically, with biodynamic practices and Demeter certification following. In 2020, Jule joined for the harvest, taking a break from the organic food service she had founded in northern Germany before moving permanently to Nierstein, bringing her entrepreneurial spirit with her. The couple have embraced vitiforestry, planting 250 trees per hectare to recreate the forest environment that vines naturally thrive in, sequestering carbon and creating an ecosystem built to endure climate change. As the trees spread their roots, the increased water retention of the soil provides natural irrigation, while above the surface they provide shade and expand biodiversity alongside cover crops, chickens, and a small flock of heritage breed sheep. It is an adaptive approach that places syntropic farming at the centre and steers firmly away from monoculture. Kai and Jule call it the 3000 Model; a way of thinking in millenia and farming with forethought. This open mindedness extends to the crafting of the wines themselves; connected to tradition, but unrestrained by convention. With Riesling and Silvaner picked from the most exceptional terroirs, they use the Solera principle to create wines combining multiple vintages, tracked in Excel sheets and spanning as many as eight harvests. These vintage cuvées deliver consistently despite fluctuating weather conditions, brought into balance by nature and time instead of chemicals.
