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Schweigen-Rechtenbach SonnenbergImage: Deutsches Weininstitut
Schweigen-Rechtenbach Sonnenberg. German wine from French soil. Although the vines of the Schweigen-Rechtenbach winegrowers are partly on the territory of the Alsatian municipality of Wissembourg, the wines may be marketed under the name of the German single vineyard Sonnenberg. An exceptional regulation makes this possible. The vineyards have been owned by German winegrowing families for generations. Between 1871 and 1919, Alsace and thus also Wissembourg (Weißenburg) belonged to the German Empire. The vineyards in the Sonnenberg, classified by the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) as Große Lagen and Erste Lagen, are mainly on the French side: the Große Lagen Heydenreich, Kammerberg, Kostert, Sankt Paul and Rädling as well as the Erste Lagen Enggasse, Finstergasse, Güldenwingert, Steinwingert and Wormberg. In addition to parts of the single vineyard site under wine law, the Große Lage Sonnenberg also includes vineyards on the other side of the border. Only the Erste Lagen Pfarrwingert and Herrenwingert are located entirely on German territory.

Our latest ratings

Pétillant NaturelwhitedryChardonnay

2020 Chardonnay Pétillant Naturel Perlwein

Rinke, Mertesdorf

Germany

Lot number 2/22 • 11 % vol alcohol

17🯅

Tasted on 15 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

German wine law is riddled with absurdities. There is still no separate category for Pétillants Naturels, so depending on the pressure in the bottle, they are labelled as Perlwein or (taxable) Schaumwein or Sekt. Alexander and Dr Marion Rinke had to declare their Chardonnay Pétillant Naturel as Perlwein, even though it really has nothing in common with bottled wines to which carbon dioxide is artificially added. The decisive factor here is not the classification under wine law, but the fact that it is a Pétillant Naturel. At least this information is permitted on the label. Opening the bottle is unspectacular, because the wine has been disgorged. In the glass, it is a light yellow with moderate but relatively subtle cloudiness. Very fine perlage. The nose is highly complex. The first thing you notice is a subtle hint of smoked bacon, which immediately recedes into the background in favour of a vegetal scent, underscored by quiet aromas reminiscent of tobacco, cigar and hazelnut. This is followed by fruity aromas of pear, partly Concorde, partly Williams, and slightly sweet apricot, partly fresh and fully ripe, partly in the form of jam. In the mouth, a pleasant, airy foam initially seems to fill the entire space, preparing it for what follows. The delicate creaminess of the Chardonnay spreads, while the Pétillant Naturel sparkles with freshness and excitement. The lively acidity adds further stimulation. A hint of woodruff in the very long finish.

17🯅

Tasted on 15 November 2025 by Julia Elflein

WinewhitedryWeißer Burgunder

2022 Berghaupten Weißburgunder Gneis Qualitätswein trocken

VDP.ORTSWEIN®

Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein, Offenburg

Germany

Baden • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 506 16 23 • 12.5 % vol alcohol

17🯅

Tasted on 14 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

A Pinot Blanc that we would blindly mistake for a Chardonnay. From the gneiss weathered soils of the Berghaupten Schützenberg. Light straw yellow. Delicate buttery bouquet with yellow fruits, a hint of Williams pear, subtle hints of apricot jam. Opens on the palate with great freshness and good acidity. More powerful than the alcohol content would suggest. Excellent presence on the palate, very powerful even in the enormously long finish. A wine that transcends the boundaries of the association classification as a VDP.ORTSWEIN.

17🯅

Tasted on 14 November 2025 by Julia Elflein

17🯅

Tasted on 26 February 2024 by Werner Elflein

WinereddryBlauer Spätburgunder

2020 Spätburgunder Muschelkalk Qualitätswein trocken

VDP.GUTSWEIN®

J. Neus, Ingelheim am Rhein

Germany

Rheinhessen • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 4366208 4 22 • 13 % vol alcohol

16🯅

Tasted on 13 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

Cuvée from an old vineyard with the Neus clone and a young vineyard with Sélection massale. Garnet red with medium to low transparency. Delicate nose of cassis and a hint of blackberry. Only subtle reductive notes, which fade into the background as the wine matures. Hints of roasted aromas. Elegant Pinot Noir fruit with tannins that polymerise beautifully and are now very velvety. Foundation with ripe, well-integrated acidity. Very good length.

15.5🯅

Tasted on 10 January 2025 by Werner Elflein

WinewhitedryWeißer Riesling

2021 Birkweiler Kastanienbusch Riesling Vom Buntsandstein Qualitätswein trocken

Klaus & Mathias Wolf, Birkweiler

Germany

Pfalz • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 5012146 25 22 • 12.5 % vol alcohol

17🯅

Tasted on 11 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

Straw yellow. Now with subtle notes of initial tertiary maturity. Complex bouquet. Peach is underpinned by hazelnut and cocoa powder on the nose. Vibrant and radiant on the palate. Mature, well-integrated acidity typical of the vintage. Firm texture, juicy and mineral. Light phenolic notes appropriate to the maturity. Excellent length.

17🯅

Tasted on 11 June 2024 by Werner Elflein

WinereddryBlauer Spätburgunder

2020 Spätburgunder Chätsch Landwein

Brenneisen, Efringen-Kirchen

Germany

Landwein Oberrhein • Geschützte geografische Angabe (g. g. A.)

Lot number 124 • 13 % vol alcohol

17🯅

Tasted on 10 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

In stark contrast to the quite accessible 2021 Pinot Noir Molassefels, the 2020 Chätsch initially appears completely buttoned up and unapproachable. Indeed, even the finish seems short and the tannins rough. This is not a wine for a jury tasting by mainstream wine journalists who believe they can judge wines as if they were on an assembly line. We therefore do not understand why Dirk Brenneisen's wines are not already on everyone's lips – if not in the glasses, then at least as a topic of conversation. Chätsch is a dialect reference to the clayey loam soil with limestone inclusions on which the vines grow that produce this impressive Pinot Noir. Decanting is not an option here, but a must. It needs to be done for two to three hours. This will probably change once the wine has matured for a few more years – it has the potential for great development – but at the moment, there is no way around a longer air shower. We observe the development over several hours. The longer we wait, the more complex the taste impressions become. A medium garnet red shows a certain cloudiness, an indication of the unfiltered bottling, which is still not accepted by narrow-minded quality wine inspectors. The nose offers fruity notes of raspberry, but also hazelnut and smoked bacon in direct contrast. Underlying herbal and partly vegetal aromas round off the bouquet. A mineral spiciness spreads across the palate. Firm in structure, with distinctly sandy tannins, the Chätsch is – and this simply has to be said at this point – not a wine for pussies. Full of character, with excellent length. The hazelnut already perceptible in the bouquet closes the circle in the finish.

17🯅

Tasted on 10 November 2025 by Julia 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

Turning one into three

Kilian Schmitges' three-barrel experiment
Image: weinfreaks.de
Middle Mosel winemaker Kilian Schmitges from Erden embarked on an unusual experiment in autumn 2016, distributing the grapes from his best dry Riesling evenly across three different containers. What makes it special: In addition to a steel tank and an oak barrel, a granite barrel was also used. While the three wines (labelled Steel, Stone and Wood) were still very similar in the first year after bottling, they now reveal significant differences as they mature. Initially, the stainless steel version was ahead of the granite version, but with the appropriate time lag, we have a completely different ranking.
Facts

Pesticides or climate change?

Population of the Apollo butterfly on the Lower Moselle endangered
Image: Pixabay

In the biological nomenclature, the Apollo butterfly is listed under the name Paranassius apollo. In the Lower Moselle valley, the subspecies Paranassius apollo vinningensis lives mainly in the steep vineyards between the municipality of Winningen and neighbouring Kobern. For a long time, the Apollo butterfly symbolised the successful coexistence of ecology and viticulture. But now the butterfly species is seriously endangered. New pesticides that have been used in viticulture for the past ten years are said to be to blame. On closer inspection, however, the connections are much more complex.

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

Finally ortsweine!

Paradigm shift at Dr. Heger
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
Unlike some others in the industry, Joachim Heger from Ihringen has always strictly and consistently separated his wine lines. While the Dr. Heger winery almost exclusively offers wines from the single vineyards of the Kaiserstuhl, which are characterised by volcanic rock, the Weinhaus Joachim Heger primarily processes the grapes grown on loess soil from a producer association. Recently, however, the winery put four bottlings on sale for the first time as Ihringer ortsweine without indicating the single vineyard. We have tasted them.
Tasting

Pascal Oberhofer takes off

Generation change in the traditional Palatinate winery
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
At the time of the French Revolution, they were almost 200 years old. The vines in the Rhodt Rosengarten, mainly Gewürztraminer, are still standing today. The phylloxera and two world wars could not harm them. The Oberhofer family, whose ancestors once came to the Palatinate from South Tyrol, owns what is probably the world's oldest vineyard still in production. The Oberhofers have been cultivating their vineyards organically since 2008. This is not to change in the course of the current generation change – step by step, the 25-year-old junior Pascal is taking over the business.
Tasting

The single vineyards' common thread

Geological diversity in the Tesch winery
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
The Tesch winery in Langenlonsheim can look back on a good three hundred years of history. The winery is a prime example of the successful synthesis of tradition and modernity. The microbiologist, who holds a doctorate, consistently cut off old habits. He banned the obsolete natural cork in favour of a screw cap and left the regional association of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter on the Nahe because his marketing concept did not fit the ideology of the elitist association. However, Tesch is by no means an avant-gardist. Rather, he knows how to present his dry Rieslings in a contemporary style. These, in turn, show no stylistic ingratiation with the zeitgeist. On the contrary. Soils, exposure of the vineyards, microclimate and vintage are reflected unadulterated in the six single vineyard wines.
Tasting

Mosella patria vini sicci

Moselle Rieslings with a dry flavour profile
Image: Pixabay
A good 150 years ago, when Rieslings from the Moselle achieved higher international prices than red wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy, noble sweet top wines played only a secondary role. Auslesen, Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen were extremely rare. At the time, it were mainly Rieslings with a dry flavour that made the winegrowers of the Moselle, Saar and Ruwer successful. It was not until after the Second World War that the region gained great importance as a source of outstanding fruity and noble sweet wines. The production of great dry Rieslings largely came to a standstill. But after the end of the sweet wine wave, the focus is increasingly back on dry Rieslings. We look into the question of whether the Moselle region can resume its old tradition.
Tasting

90 percent Riesling

The Ruwer trumps
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
The vineyards in the Ruwer valley belong to the Moselle wine-growing region, which was still called Mosel-Saar-Ruwer until the law was changed in 2006. Riesling dominates the steep slopes. A proud 90 percent of the area is planted with the noble white wine grape. Nowhere else is the proportion of Riesling in the grape variety list higher. Although the filigree and subtle Rieslings from the Ruwer are very similar to those from the Moselle and Saar, they have their own distinctive character. As a result of a longer growing season and lower average temperatures compared to the Moselle Valley, the Ruwer Rieslings are much more acidic and have a pronounced green herbaceous aroma, especially in cooler years.