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Eberbach MonasteryImage: Deutsches Weininstitut
Eberbach Monastery. The former Cistercian monastery in Eberbach dates back to a foundation in 1136. Already in the Middle Ages, the monastery had a stately vineyard estate of over 300 hectares, which was essentially leased out. Little is known about the grape varieties of this time. In the middle of the 15th century, the cultivation of the red grape varieties Pinot Noir and Blauer Hängling is documented. Before Riesling began its triumphant advance in the Rheingau in the 18th century, the white grape varieties Heunisch, Gelber Orleans and Traminer probably predominated. With the secularisation, the monastery's vineyards became state domains. Today, the Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach form the largest wine estate in Germany. Eberbach Monastery also became famous as the location for the filming of Umberto Eco's classic novel The Name of the Rose.

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

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

WinewhitedryWeißer Riesling

2021 Erden Treppchen Riesling Qualitätswein trocken

Großes Gewächs Bernkasteler Ring e. V.

Rebenhof, Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602100 2 22 • 12.5 % vol alcohol

19🯅🕓

Tasted on 8 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

Winewhiteoff-dryWeißer Riesling

2018 Ürzig Würzgarten Riesling Von den Felsen Spätlese feinherb

Rebenhof, Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602100 11 19 • 11.5 % vol alcohol

18.5🯅🕓

Tasted on 8 November 2025 by Werner Elflein

WinewhitedryWeißer Riesling

2023 Ürzig Würzgarten Riesling “PUR” Qualitätswein trocken

Rebenhof, Ürzig

Germany

Mosel • Geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g. U.)

Amtliche Prüfungsnummer 2602100 7 24 • 12 % vol alcohol

16.5🯅🕓

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

Innovation Grauburgunder

100 years of Bickensohl Weinvogtei
Image: weinfreaks.de
Until the 1980s, Pinot Gris was still known exclusively as Ruländer in Germany. The grapes produce mostly sweet, opulent white wines. When the demand for dry wines increased, many German winegrowers changed their harvesting strategy. They now harvested the Ruländer grapes earlier and in a healthy, botrytis-free state. In order to leave the image of the chubby Ruländer behind them, they named the grape variety Grauburgunder on their bottle labels from then on. The first Ruländer to be marketed as Grauburgunder was bottled by the Bickensohl winegrowers' cooperative.
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.
Tasting

From green to scarlet

The geologically unique vineyards of Prinz Salm
Image: Prinz Salm
As Germany's oldest family-owned winery, Prinz Salm looks back on a history dating back to the year 1200. Until the beginning of the 21st century, the winery concentrated on vineyards in and around Wallhausen. In 2008, Michael Prinz Salm-zu Salm took over the vineyards of the former winery Villa Sachsen in Bingen. This means that the current owner, Felix Prinz zu Salm-Salm, not only has top vineyards on the Nahe, but also in neighbouring Rhinehessen. The green slate in Wallhausen and the scarlet soil of the Bingen Scharlachberg are unique.
Tasting

Harteneck reinvents himself

Natural wines from the Markgräflerland
Image: Pixabay
As in other regions of Baden, viticulture in the Markgräflerland is primarily carried out by the winegrowers' cooperatives. Unfortunately, the cooperatives still have a hard time with the topic of ecology. Anyone who drives along the vineyards through the region during the growing season can hardly miss the consequences of blanket herbicide application. Thomas Harteneck takes a different approach. Born in the Palatinate, he settled in Schliengen in 1997 and is one of the pioneers of biodynamic viticulture in Baden.
Tasting

Draught horse HE

Palatinate Pinot Noirs in Burgundian style
Image: Pixabay
“Prago”, “Arthos”, “Melandor”. This is how winemaker Uli Metzger from Grünstadt-Asselheim calls his three best Pinot Noirs. Their first vintage, 2012, is now sold out at the winery. Not least because “Arthos” was one of the winning wines at the VINUM German Red Wine Award last year. The young 2013s are already tasting very promising and even indicate an increase compared to the previous year. However, there is not much room for improvement. Uli Metzger's advisor knows that, too. For Hans Erich Dausch, the three Pinot Noirs are in the same league as the best red wines of Burgundy. Dausch can judge that. He knows Burgundy like the back of his hand and is a welcome guest at Romanée-Conti. In his Palatinate homeland, he is better known by his abbreviation HE than by his civil name.
Tasting

Der klitzekleine Ring hits the VDP

Steep slope rescue on behalf of Riesling
Image: Deutsches Weininstitut
The Bernkasteler Ring, also known as the Kleiner Ring, was founded in 1899 as an association of winery owners from the Middle Moselle. Since 1901, it has organized wine auctions for its members. It is thus the oldest society in the region to hold wine auctions. Today, the Bernkasteler Ring also includes estates on the Saar and Ruwer rivers. A few years later, in 1908, the Großer Ring formed as a second large winegrowers' association, which first auctioned wines in 1910. The Großer Ring later gave rise to the regional Verband Deutscher Naturweinversteigerer, now the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP). A completely different approach is taken by Der klitzekleine Ring, founded in 2005. As the name suggests, the group, which currently comprises ten wineries, does not take itself too seriously.
Tasting

… at the end, the Germans always win

The Pinot Noir country competition
Image: Pixabay
Although the Pinot Noir is better suited than any other red wine variety to produce unique and incomparable, elegant, finesse-rich and multi-layered wines in a comparatively cool climate, after the Second World War German winegrowers mainly produced pale-coloured, thin drinks smelling of raspberry syrup. It was not until the 1980s that a few ambitious German winegrowers began to think about cultivating and developing Pinot Noir. They drastically reduced yields, separated from inferior high-yielding clones and perfected barrique ageing. Only gradually did this work bear fruit. Today, as our blind tasting shows, German Pinot Noirs are quite capable of not only catching up with their Burgundian competitors, but in some cases even surpassing them in quality.
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.