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Vereinigte Hospitien and the oldest German wine cellarImage: Deutsches Weininstitut
Vereinigte Hospitien and the oldest German wine cellar. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte secularised the monasteries in and around Trier. He placed several Catholic hospices and old people's homes under a common administration. When they were founded, the Vereinigte Hospitien also took over the vineyards owned by the monasteries. In 1464, the cultivation of Riesling on the Moselle is mentioned for the first time in the books of the former hospital St. Jakob. Today, the Vereinigte Hospitien vineyard, which belongs to the regional Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter, still cultivates 25 hectares of vines on the Middle Moselle and the Saar, including the Trier Augenscheiner, the Wiltingen Hölle and the Serrig Schloss Saarfels Schlossberg as monopole vineyards. The Vereinigte Hospititen also own Germany's oldest wine cellar in the St. Irminen monastery, whose history can be traced back to Roman Trier (330 AD).

Our latest ratings

WinewhitedryWeißer Riesling

2020 Zell Schwarzer Herrgott Riesling Alte Reben Qualitätswein trocken

Puder, Zellertal

Germany

Pfalz • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 4187009 10 22 • 11.5 % vol alcohol

18.5🯅

Tasted on 20 January 2026 by Werner Elflein

Bright yellow with white-gold reflections. Highly complex, mineral and herbal aroma of white currant and lemon with green herbal spice and vegetal notes. On the palate, it has a multi-layered attack, characterised by great freshness and vibrant acidity with good tension. Delicate melt, some wood spice with fine ethereal notes. Develops enormous pull on the palate. Distinct limestone influence. Clear and focused. Long finish with herbal spice notes again. Excellent length, seemingly endless finish. Still a long way from reaching its peak. A great dry Riesling.

WinewhitesweetWeißer Riesling

2021 Niefernheim Apotheker Riesling Kabinett

Puder, Zellertal

Germany

Pfalz • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 4187009 1 22 • 8 % vol alcohol

16🯅

Tasted on 19 January 2026 by Werner Elflein

Bright yellow. Intense mineral nose, clearly reflecting the extremely chalky soil in Niefernheim Apotheker, a vineyard within the Kreuzberg. Subtle vegetal and herbal notes. The fruit focuses on green citrus aromas, especially lime and a hint of star fruit. Seemingly lean on the palate, yet enormously juicy. The lively acidity, however high it may be analytically, is buffered by the extract. Animating freshness. A wonderful cool-climate Riesling. Needs some air.

WinereddryBlauer Spätburgunder

2020 Marienthal Trotzenberg Spätburgunder Qualitätswein

Paul Schumacher, Marienthal

Germany

Ahr • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 1791688 7 22 • 13.5 % vol alcohol

18🯅

Tasted on 18 January 2026 by Werner Elflein

Initially quite light, transparent cherry red, becoming increasingly darker and opaque with exposure to air. Complex, fine oak aroma with a broad spectrum of aromas ranging from black cherry, elderberry, blackberry, cranberry and raspberry. Stylish Pinot Noir with distinctive but high-quality, ripe, polymerising tannins that give a good idea of where the journey is heading. Some cocoa and dark chocolate on the palate. Sweet fruit. Elegant acidity. Although the tannins still slow things down a bit on the finish, it has excellent length in perspective. Currently still a little closed and not fully developed. However, it shows that it will deliver on its promise for the future. My rating takes into account the great potential of this wine. Not a show Pinot, but a real long-distance runner. Definitely decant and wait a few more years.

17🯅

Tasted on 18 January 2026 by Julia Elflein

WinewhitedryWeißer Riesling

2024 Riesling Qualitätswein trocken

Puder, Zellertal

Germany

Pfalz • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 4187009 19 24 • 12 % vol alcohol

15.5🯅

Tasted on 17 January 2026 by Werner Elflein

Light yellow. Pronounced mineral nose with distinct herbal spice and floral notes of white blossoms. Subtle yellow fruit aromas, partly reminiscent of stone fruit. Distinctive and typical taste of a Riesling from a very calcareous soil. The strongly buffered acidity still seems very lively. Delicate hint of extract sweetness. Cool Riesling fruit. Juicy and expressive, with pull on the palate. Complex finish. Long and persistent.

WinewhitesweetWeißer Riesling

2013 Erden Treppchen Riesling Kabinett

Jos. Christoffel jr. (Christoffel-Prüm), Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602144 1 14 • 7.5 % vol alcohol

17🯅

Tasted on 16 January 2026 by Werner Elflein

Golden yellow. Deep, mineral aroma of peach and apricot with hints of yellow apple. Refined, delicate, elegant Kabinett with a delicate sweetness. Fine spice on the palate. Excellent length. Traditional style. Great potential. Still youthful and fresh after a good twelve years in the bottle.

17🯅

Tasted on 16 January 2026 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

Comment

Dry January

Moral imperative or cultureless dogmatism?
Image: Pixabay
At the beginning of each year, the collective abstinence parade known as Dry January begins anew. A whole month without alcohol, marketed as an act of self-control, as a contribution to physical regeneration, as a signal of a “sensible lifestyle”. Those who opt out of this ritual quickly find themselves under pressure to justify their decision. What appears to be a voluntary health initiative, however, on closer inspection turns out to be a media-driven standardisation project that suppresses enjoyment, culture and differentiation in favour of simple messages.
Obituary

Remembering Hans-Günter Schwarz

On the death of the legendary winemaker
Image: Wikipedia
Germany's wine world is in mourning. Hans-Günter Schwarz passed away on 21 November 2025 at the age of 84. For decades, Schwarz was arguably the most prominent figure in the German wine scene. He established the international reputation of the Müller-Catoir winery and trained many young winemakers to become top producers. His achievements remain unrivalled to this day.
Comment

Terroir and misunderstanding

Why the grape variety matters
Image: weinfreaks.de
“A spectre is haunting the world of wine. Its name is terroir.” [translated] With these words, Reinhard Löwenstein once opened his famous essay “Vom Öchsle zum Terroir” (From Oechsle to Terroir), published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in October 2003. The article was preceded by years of discussion that had shaped the German wine scene since at least the late 1990s. Löwenstein's essay was of enormous importance to the discourse at the time. In many respects, it is still highly topical. Nevertheless, the headline itself contains a serious misunderstanding.
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.

A selection of our previous posts

Tasting

Valley of many cellars

Valpolicella with potential
Image: weinfreaks.de
The Valpolicella area lies east of Lake Garda and north of Verona in the Italian region of Veneto. Only red wines are produced, which are often rather light-bodied and are drunk young. However, the top wines have much more potential and can mature gracefully. A selection of wines presented by the Consorzio tutela dei vini della Valpolicella in the run-up to this year's ProWein international wine fair during a lunch at the Rossini restaurant in Düsseldorf emphasised the fact that they also make excellent accompaniments to food.
Satire

Warning letters for wineries

Do vineyards violate personal rights?
Image: Pixabay
Marcobrunn was the first Rheingau single vineyard to appear by name on a wine label. That was 1726. But now disaster is on the horizon. On behalf of a client from Munich, the Starnberg law firm Beuger & Winkel sent warning letters to several Rheingau wineries. The reason: 38-year-old low voltage electrician Marco Brunn believes his general personal rights have been violated.
Tasting

Terra preta for the vineyard

Andreas Huppert and the black earth of the Indies
Image: Weingut Huppert
Researchers stumbled upon a mystery in the Amazon region at the end of the 19th century. They discovered a deeply dark but extremely fertile soil that did not at all fit the natural conditions. The soils of the tropical rainforests are anything but rich in nutrients. The researchers found answers among the Indians. Already thousands of years ago, the indigenous people practised shifting cultivation with slash-and-burn methods. To improve the fertility of the soil, they mixed plant residues, composted waste, human faeces and plant charcoal. Through fermentation, this resulted in terra preta, the black earth.
Tasting

Niederberg's Helden (Heroes)

Schloss Lieser and Thanisch in blind tasting
Image: Pixabay
They live in the same village, cultivate their vines in the same vineyards and are even friends with each other. In the past decades, both have played a significant role in polishing up the reputation of the Lieser vineyards. We tasted a representative cross-section of this year's Riesling collection, the 2018 vintage, from both wineries. However, the question was less about which winery would end up on top of the winner's podium. Rather, it was about recognising individual strengths, stylistic differences and different concepts in dealing with a hot-climate year that in a few decades could be representative of viticulture in the second half of the 21st century.
Tasting

25 vintages estate Riesling

Robert Weil impresses with a vertical of a special kind
Image: weinfreaks.de
In case of the Robert Weil estate, most wine journalists agree: it is one of the best Riesling producers in Germany. However, there was and is not only praise in the wine scene. Especially in the area of litre wines and estate Rieslings, there is always criticism of fillings that do not meet the high standards of the house. An on-site tasting in August 2018 at least answered the question of what excellence the winery is capable of.
Tasting

It cannot be more Rotliegend!

The renaissance of the Rhine front
Image: weinfreaks.de
The vineyards of the Roter Hang have probably the greatest potential within Rhinehessen to produce great and individual wines. From Nackenheim to the Nierstein district of Schwabsburg, a formation of Rotliegend runs through the vineyards of the Rhine front, giving the wines, especially the Rieslings, their distinctive and sometimes highly individual character. In the 19th century, the wines from the Roter Hang enjoyed worldwide renown and fetched top prices at international auctions. Afterwards, however, viticulture on the Rhine front fell more and more into a largely home-made crisis. For some years now, however, the winegrowers of the Roter Hang have been increasingly pushing their way back into the limelight.
Tasting

Blaufränkisch – The next generation

Austrian's red wine slims down
Image: Pixabay
Austrian red wines have a hard time in this country. Almost ineradicable in the minds of consumers is the idea that they are always ponderous wines disfigured by new wood to the point of being unrecognisable as a grape variety, as was still common in the nineties. We still have the impression that many producers give priority to concentration over elegance. But in the meantime, a counter-current to the mainstream is forming. Blaufränkisch, an autochthonous Austrian grape variety, benefits not least from this, as it needs neither abundant alcohol nor exaggerated wood make-up to produce convincing, tannin-rich red wines with fine acidity.
Tasting

Pinot Noir speaks German

Four countries – one variety
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
The fact that world-class Pinot Noirs are now occasionally produced in Germany, the land of white wines, is nothing new to many connoisseurs of the subject, even if wine drinkers, especially those with a Francophile bent, often elevate the supposed original from Burgundy to the dubious measure of all things. They tend to ignore the fact that, in addition to the chalky soils of Burgundy, the slate slopes of the Ahr and the red sandstone soils of Franconia, for example, also produce impressive and very distinctive Pinot Noirs that have no need to hide on the international stage. The Pinot Noirs from Switzerland, which also have a say in the race among the best “German-speaking” representatives of the grape variety, are mostly completely unknown in this country and were virtually unavailable in Germany until recently. But not only in Germany and Switzerland, also in parts of Austria and South Tyrol excellent Pinot Noirs are produced.