This weekend, I want to direct you to Schloss Vollrads, a winery in the German region Rheingau. Within Germany, the Rhine flows rather straightforwardly north, with a slight northwestern bent. But at one point in its course, for about 50 kilometers, the Rhine takes a southwestern bend, from Mainz (I grew up just south of it) to Bingen. This is the only time in Germany, that vineyards on the Rhine in Germany get full southern exposure facing the Rhine. This map is focused on all the castles along the Rhine, which is just one of the reasons why it is so beautiful there…but it also shows you how the Rhine flows and how the northern bank is fully exposed to the south.
Why is that important? Germany is one of the most northern wine countries. Historically, our grapes need as much sun as they get, because it does not get warm enough for them to fully ripen. That is one of the reasons why most prime vineyards are fully south exposed, to get as much sunlight as possible, and even better, get the sun reflected from the river.
But back to Schloss Vollrads. The winery celebrates its 800th consecutive wine harvest this year, and that makes it the oldest running winery on the planet. Just mind-boggling.
Chris Kassel over at Intoxicology Report, wrote a piece in his inimitable style to celebrate their birthday! I had tremendous fun reading it, and I hope you will enjoy it, too!
Happy Sunday!
A Bit of Gloss for The Schloss Sauce: 800 Vintages and Going Strong!
the winegetter 
[…] this video by the Rheingau winery Schloss Vollrads (Germany’s oldest continuing winery, see here) yesterday and I was just completely in awe once again about what these harvesters go through to […]
Informative, as always. By the way, our local store has two bottles for the American market on close-out. Do you have any experience with Züm Mosel (yes–they put the umlaut over the u, is that kitschy as all get out, is there a word zuem that I’m not familiar with?). it’s a Riesling ’09; the other is ’08 Rudolf Müller Riesling. They’re probably syrupy–but, maybe they’re good?
Thanks! They are probably both not very exciting. It all depends. I would probably be willing to pay around $5 for each bottle. The Rudolf Mueller should be better than the kitschy zuem…I have not had either. :)
Amazing to think that a business can still be in business after 800 years… Obviously doing something right!
Oldest running winery on the planet, huh?! Very impressive. By the way, it would also make it a great quiz question :)
Feel free to steal! I will not delete the post, though…:)
No worries… May be in a few month, and with the twist :)
:)