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Johannisberg Castle and the SpätlesereiterImage: Deutsches Weininstitut
Johannisberg Castle and the Spätlesereiter. The story of the Spätlesereiter goes back to an 18th century legend. At that time, Johannisberg Castle in the Rheingau was still owned by the High Chapter of Fulda. In 1775, shortly before the grape harvest, the Johannisberg monks sent a mounted messenger to the prince abbot in Fulda to obtain permission from him to start the harvest. The messenger was late, and when he finally returned, the grapes had long since been attacked by noble rot (botrytis). The monks discovered that the wine from these grapes was particularly sweet and tasted excellent. The Spätlese was born. However, the story is not historically proven at all, and the wines were rather Auslesen, Beeren- and Trockenbeerenauslesen according to today's understanding. What is certain, however, is which grape variety it must have been. The vineyards of Schloss Johannisberg have been planted exclusively with Riesling since 1720.

Our latest ratings

WinewhitedryGrüner Silvaner

2022 Sulzfeld Berg Silvaner Qualitätswein trocken

VDP.ERSTE LAGE® / VDP.ERSTES GEWÄCHS®

Zehnthof – Theo Luckert, Sulzfeld am Main

Germany

Franken • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 4050 11 23 • 13 % vol alcohol

17.5🯅

Tasted on 9 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

18🯅

Tasted on 9 November 2025 by Julia Elflein

17🯅

Tasted on 13 April 2025 by Werner Elflein

Greenish yellow. Not particularly fruity on the nose. Some melon, subtle yellow fruit, especially yellow apple. Expressive and unpretentious, mineral Silvaner with style and character. Great depth and length. Enormous finish.

17🯅🕓

Tasted on 16 June 2023 by Werner Elflein

WinewhitesweetWeißer Riesling

2012 Ürzig Würzgarten Riesling Beerenauslese

Rebenhof, Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602100 18 13 • 7.5 % vol alcohol

20🯅🕓

Tasted on 8 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

WinewhitesweetWeißer Riesling

2024 Ürzig Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett

Rebenhof, Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602100 10 25 • 8 % vol alcohol

17🯅🕓

Tasted on 8 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

WinewhitedryWeißer Riesling

2023 Erden Treppchen Riesling Spätlese trocken

Rebenhof, Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602100 13 24 • 12 % vol alcohol

18🯅🕓

Tasted on 8 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

WinewhitedryWeißer Riesling

2024 Erden Treppchen Riesling Spätlese trocken

Rebenhof, Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602100 13 25 • 12 % vol alcohol

18.5🯅🕓

Tasted on 8 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

Symbols
🯅The rating of the wine is based on a single taster. The taster is named in the context of the rating. The tasting was either open or blind. In case of a blind tasting, it is explicitly labelled as such.
🯅🯅The rating of the wine is based on two tasters. The tasters are named in the context of the rating. The tasting was carried out according to the four-eyes principle, in which both tasters agree on a joint rating.
🯅🯅🯅The rating is based on a tasting by our jury and indicates the Mean value calculated by us from the individual ratings of the tasters. Our mean value is based on the median.
⚖The wine was evaluated in a blind tasting. We have strict rules for blind tastings. The tasters do not receive any information that would allow them to identify the wines. The tasters are only given access to further information that goes beyond the subject matter if it is absolutely necessary for understanding the wines.
🕓We only had limited time to taste the wine  - typically during an open tasting event, such as a wine fair. It was therefore not possible to observe the development of the wine in the glass over a longer period of time. The informative value of our rating may therefore be limited under certain circumstances.
⛬The wine was tasted as a barrel sample or before an official test number (Amtliche Prüfungsnummer or Staatliche Prüfnummer) was issued. We only accept samples of unfilled wines in exceptional cases, and then only if we can assume sufficient stability in the bottle for a period of at least three months.
▲During our tasting, the wine showed conspicuous sensory characteristics. This does not necessarily have to be a wine fault. We categorise the quality and quantity of the abnormality and include it in the rating. Wine faults such as cork taint or an atypical ageing generally lead to a complete rejection.
Tastings that refer to the same bottle of a wine are visually summarised by a dotted line.

Our latest posts

Tasting

Bordeaux: 2022 a vintage of the century?

Great wines despite great drought
Image: weinfreaks.de
Apostrophising a vintage as the vintage of the century even before a centenary has passed may seem premature. However, with regard to the 2022s from the Bordeaux region, the assessment that exceptional wines were produced in that year is undoubtedly anything but bold. Of course, not all châteaux were able to triumph. Moreover, the 2022 was anything but a sure-fire success. The course of the vintage presented the winemakers with major challenges. However, in many cases, the result in the bottle can be downright inspiring. We tasted a cross-section of the vintage on the occasion of the presentation of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux at this year's ProWein.
Comment

ProWein in decline

Large drop in exhibitors and visitors at the international wine fair in Düsseldorf
Image: Messe Düsseldorf
In its press release, Messe Düsseldorf celebrates ProWein 2025 (16–18 March) as a success. However, the facts speak a different language. Only 4200 exhibitors, 20 per cent fewer than last year, were spread across the eleven exhibition halls. The number of visitors also fell, by a good ten per cent to 42000 compared to 2024. While the trade fair continues to emphasise the outstanding importance of ProWein for the international wine industry, the exodus of German wine producers in particular has reached a new dimension. Only around 900 exhibitors came from Germany in 2025.
Facts

Against viticulture and for the death of the Apollo butterfly

Absurd lawsuit against Rhineland-Palatinate
Image: Pixabay
Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) is a non-profit organisation under German association law, but above all it is a group of lobbyists who receive state support for their activities. According to the online platform auto.de, this amounted to almost five million Euros in 2018. The DUH received further 2.5 million Euros from the lucrative business of issuing warning letters. DUH is now suing the state of Rhineland-Palatinate together with the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rheinisch-Westfälischer Lepidopterologen (AGL). Since 2011, the state's Ministry of Viticulture has repeatedly granted winegrowers in the Lower Moselle region exemptions for helicopter spraying, which is prohibited by law in the state.
Satire

From Abtsberg to Äbtissinsberg?

Gender equality in vineyard names
Image: weinfreaks.de
There are over 2600 individual vineyards in Germany, and many of them can look back on a history of several hundred years. Until recently, the proper names of the vineyards were never scrutinised. At the end of last year, however, a newly formed working group met for the first time at the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which is responsible for viticulture, to examine the catalogue of German vineyard sites from the point of view of gender equality. The working group is chaired by linguist Angelika Balgthöter-Hasenfratz from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Facts

Underground power lines instead of vineyards

Hochheim am Main defends itself
Image: Pixabay
Germany is facing an energy transition. Fossil fuels, whose share of electricity generation continues to decline but still currently accounts for around 35 per cent, are not available indefinitely. In 100 years at the latest, the remaining raw materials would be exhausted if the production volume remained the same. Because politicians have been asleep for decades, things need to move quickly now. Forward-looking and far-sighted planning has fallen by the wayside. Construction measures are being driven forward with a crowbar that are likely to destroy the economic performance of an entire region and, not least, a wine culture that is thousands of years old.
Tasting

“A new chapter”

Christoph Eifel continues the family tradition
Image: Christoph Eifel
The history of the Trittenheim family business can be traced back to 1635. The next generation took over in 2021. The Ernst Eifel winery became the Christoph Eifel winery. The question of what exactly has changed as a result of the generational change is not easy to answer. It would undoubtedly be a miracle if Christoph Eifel, who learnt the winemaking trade from Nik Weis in Leiwen and Thomas Haag in Lieser before studying viticulture in Geisenheim, did not introduce his own ideas and carefully develop the style of the wines. But this does not necessarily mean a break.
Tasting

A vision lives on

From the Fuchs-Jacobus winery to Gut Steyerberg
Image: Gut Steyerberg
As early as 1989, the Jacobus family cultivated their vineyards according to the guidelines of the Demeter Association, making them one of the pioneers of biodynamic viticulture in Germany. Wilfried and Marlene Jacobus have now largely retired. Because their children did not want to take over the business, it was actually supposed to be sold. But things turned out differently. Thorben Bosse took over, and the Fuchs-Jacobus winery has since become Gut Steyerberg. Werner Elflein tasted a great wine collection and spoke with the new owner.
Tasting

The Piwi Kollektiv

An integrated concept for organic viticulture
Image: Piwi Kollektiv
If the state government has its way, the proportion of organically farmed land in Baden-Württemberg should increase to up to 40 per cent by 2030. This also applies to viticulture. However, many small family businesses in Baden are traditionally organised in cooperatives and only cultivate their mostly small vineyards as a sideline. Martin Schmidt, owner of the Kiefer and Schmidt wineries in Eichstetten, and Philipp Rottmann thought about this and founded the Piwi Kollektiv.

A selection of our previous posts

Tasting

Stylistic device reduction

Playing with the fire
Image: Pixabay
Reduction occurs during fermentation as a result of a stress situation for the yeasts, primarily due to a lack of oxygen or nitrogen. It manifests itself in the wine as a sulfurous odour reminiscent of burnt matches, flint or flintstone. Reduction must be differentiated from the related mercaptan sulfurous off-flavour, which can produce unpleasant odours of rotten eggs, among other things, and is a serious wine defect. Because some reduction notes are perceived as quite pleasant, many winemakers try to bring them out in the wine.
Tasting

Typicality trumps handwriting

Stefan Steinmetz: From insider tip to top producer
Image: weinfreaks.de
Stefan Steinmetz owes his rise to the top of Germany's best winemakers not least to his sure instinct for what the French call terroir, which in this country has unfortunately degenerated into an empty word bubble. There is hardly anyone else who works out differences between vineyard sites and vintages as transparent and comprehensible as he does.
Tasting

It does not always have to be Champagne!

German sparkling wine producers on the upswing
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
Germany is and remains the world champion. Not in soccer, but in sparkling wine consumption. Around 3.2 million hectolitres of sparkling wine flow down German throats every year. This corresponds to a per capita consumption of 3.8 litres. It's not as good as beer, but it's not bad. No wonder that more and more wineries in the country are increasingly focusing on sparkling wine production and producing better and better sparkling wines. It is also no wonder that German sparkling wines no longer have to fear comparison with French champagnes in terms of quality.
Comment

Naturals conquer the wine world

Formerly critically eyed, now established
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
Today, natural wines, also called naturals, form an independent and recognised wine category. Hardly anyone would have seriously expected that this would one day be the case ten or twenty years ago. And rightly so. For a long time, many of the wines were simply faulty. In the meantime, however, the picture has changed decisively. A comment by Werner Elflein.
Tasting

Germany's first “climate vintner”

Our discovery in the Kraichgau: David Klenert
Image: Pixabay
David Klenert is Germany's first “climate vintner”. His winery in Kraichtal-Münzesheim, founded in 2015, is not only certified organic, the young winemaker even goes one step further. His approach to improving the quality of the soil and thus helping to reduce global CO2 consumption initially led him to a farmer friend. From there he adopted ideas from regenerative agriculture, with the aim of gradually increasing the natural humus content of his vineyard soils from the current 1.5 to up to four percent. Depending on the soil type, this corresponds to a binding of an additional 70 to 130 tonnes of CO2 per hectare.
Tasting

Aha, the Ahr!

Germany's northern red wine paradise
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
In German, the interjection Aha! stands for a sudden insight or realisation. But Aha is also a Celtic word from which the name of the river Ahr is derived. It means as much as water. Aha, the Ahr! therefore seemed to us to be a fitting title for our themed tasting in two respects, because the past year, which was for us dominated by the Pinot Noirs and Pinot Noirs Précoces (locally known as Frühburgunder) from Germany's small red wine paradise, gave us plenty of deep insights and findings. For Aha, the Ahr! we tasted over 150 wines. As a rule, we had two bottles of each wine which we subjected to a total of four individual tests. Two of these tests were carried out as part of a blind tasting.
Tasting

Between Vienne and Valence

White and red wines from the Northern Rhône
Image: Pixabay
Geologically and climatically, the northern part of the Côtes du Rhône differs significantly from the southern. Between Vienne in the north and Valence in the south, the river flows through a valley bordered by the foothills of the Massif Central in the west and the Alps in the east. On the sometimes very steep, often terraced slopes, Syrah is mainly grown as the only red wine variety permitted in the various appellations. The share of white wines has increased in recent years and is now almost 20 percent. The main grape variety here is Viognier. However, Marsanne Blanche and Roussanne are also gaining some importance.
Tasting

Refugium Würzgarten

Ungrafted and unique
Image: weinfreaks.de
As one of only a few vineyards in Germany and on the Middle Moselle, the Ürzig Würzgarten is still home to a significant proportion of ungrafted Riesling vines that often have an age of 100 years or more. Even in weaker or more difficult years, these vines, which are perfectly adapted to their environment, produce top quality. Characteristic of the Würzgarten Rieslings is a complex, strikingly spicy minerality and a very fine, sometimes juicy fruit, often reminiscent of ripe peach, apricot and nectarine. We have tasted a number of dry, delicate, fruity and sweet Rieslings from the Ürziger spice garden. In addition to matured crus from the 1990s, the focus was also on the current vintages from 2007 to 2010.The Würzgarten Rieslings showed how excellently they can mature and still shine with youthful brilliance even after 20 years.