Courtly Lives - Herrnsheim, Germany

Herrnsheim, Germany:
Written and researched by Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska, Bachelors of Fine Arts

Organic Wines of Herrnsheim:

1. 1998 Neirsteiner Pettental Riesling ‘First Growth’, Weingut Heyl Zu Herrnsheim, Germany, £15.60 @ The Wine Barn A complex, stylish wine, with a minerally palate and rich, almost tropical fruit.

2. 1998 Neirsteiner Pettental Riesling Auslese, Weingut Heyl Zu Herrnsheim, Germany, £11.75 @ The Wine Barn An ‘intense, exotic Riesling’ but ‘not overblown’, with spicy notes, good acidity and a long finish.

Famous Herrnsheim Vineyards:

Baron von Heyl zu Herrnsheim Riesling Auslese - Halves from Rheinhessen, Germany. Sells for £309.27 British Pounds (Vintage: 1999). This price is for 12 37.5 cl. It is a white wine with Reisling grapes, produced by the vineyard of Baron von Heyl of Herrnsheim. This stock was rated in 2000 at the Boston, Massachusetts Wine Festival:

Heyl zu Herrnsheim Baron von Heyl Muller-Thurgau Q.b.A. '98 -- Very spritzy, with a bland, vaguely peachy nose. Very soft in the mouth with decent peach flavors, and fairly low acidity. The wine received a B- rating.

The Wine Estate of Baron von Heyl

Geisenheim is located on the Rhine River in the Rheingau: Rudesheim. Geisenheim is noted for its wine school, and is rated as the most famous wine-learning center in the world.

The Palatinate(German Pfalz) is Germany's biggest vineyard, and it is located just north of Alsace. Von Buht is one of the biggest private estates in Germany. Othe vineyards are: von Basserman-Jordon, Burklin-Wolf, Wegeler estate (50 acres), Erbach (the estate of Prince Frederick of Prussia, Falkenstein-Hofberg (in the Saar), and Schloss Johannisberg that dominates everything between Geisenheim and Winkel.

The most famous estate in the Saar is that of Egon Muller (Le Gallais estate).

Le Gallais Wiltingen 54459 Tel. 06501/17232 In 1954 Egon Müller of the Scharzhof obtained a 50 percent share of a second estate at Wiltingen. It was owned by the Gallais family from Brittany, one of the founders of the Arbed steelworks in the Saarland. The Gallais estate at that time owned 2.5 hectares of vineyard in one of the best sites on the Saar, the Wiltinger Brauner Kupp, planted exclusively with Riesling. In 1992 Müller personally bought a further two hectares in this site and the wine is marketed as Le Gallais. The Rieslings from here are refined but rich with opulent fruit. Only when compared directly with the superb Scharzhofberg wines does it become obvious that they are not in the same league, though in lesser vintages Le Gallais wines can prove superior due to their richness. In any case Le Gallais is an estate in its own right and not a second label of Egon Müller.

Rheinhessen wine is mostly from the Sylvaner vines, which gives a sweetish taste (Liebfraumilch). The best villages of Rheinhessen are north of Bodenstein and south of Guntersblum and Alsheim, along the river. Bernkastel vineyards are flanked by Oppenhiem and Nackenheim. There is also the Bernkastel vineyard.

Bechtheim, one of the homes of the Kruessler/Crysler family is near the Cathedral city of Worms. This is in the wine country of Rhinehessen. This town has had vineyards since Roman times. The Aristocratic families of this area are the von Rodensteins and the Falkensteins (of Flakenstein-Hofburg vineyards). The Bechtheim wine is called "a noble wine." Bechtheim was also a place of pilgrimage.

by Margaret Sypniewski

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