Carolin Gillot-Spanier and H.O. Spanier, Weingut Kühling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier, are Winemaker of the Year (Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018).
Carolin is one of Germany’s gifted female winemakers. After her studies at the University of Geisenheim, she took over her family’s winery Weingut Kühling-Gillot in Bodenheim, in the Northern part of Rheinhessen, not too far away from Frankfurt. Carolin not only took over her family’s winery, but she also married H.O. Spanier, who came with a famous winery, Weingut BattenfeldSpanier in Hohen Sülzen in the Southern part of Rheinhessen. And he also is a gifted, ambitious winemaker. So, you have 2 very talented winemakers, running together 2 of the best German wine estates.
Legally, it is one entity: Weingut Carolin Spanier-Gillot & H.O. Spanier GbR (Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts), with 2 brands: Kühling-Gillot and BattenfeldSpanier.
Inevitably, when you drink a Weingut Kühling-Gillot wine or a Weingut BattenfeldSpanier wine you have the handwriting of both Carolin Spanier Gillot and H.O. Spanier in the glass. At some point, Carolin was saying that the handwriting of her husband was dominating both brands.
Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier
The Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier is in Hohen-Sülzen (Wonnegau area) close to the city of Worms in Southern Rheinhessen. The Spanier family has been making wine for generations. The vineyard area totals 18 hectares, with holdings in: Kirchenstück, Rosengarten und Sonnenberg (Hohen-Sülzen), as well as Frauenberg (Flörsheim). More than 50% of the area is planted with Riesling, as well as with Pinot Noir (20%), Pinot Blanc (8%), Silvaner, Chardonnay and other varieties.
Annual production is around 70.000 bottles of wine. The estate is a member of the VDP association. H. O. Spanier has been a member of the ECOVIN organic growers association since 1996. Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier is now fully biodynamic.
The wine of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier are available in the US through Fass Selections: Battenfeld Spanier is the most popular German winery that I sell and for a good reason. HO Spanier has the magic touch and everything he makes is simply stunningly well made and delicious from the least expensive wine to the top of the list. He is easily one of the top 5 makers of dry white wine in Germany and located in the top region for dry white wine, the Rheinhessen.
Weingut Kühling-Gillot
Weingut Kuehling-Gillot is in Bodenheim (Nierstein area) in Rheinhessen in Germany. In its present form, it came about by marriage in 1970 of Caroline Spanier-Gillot’s parents. It has over 200 years of history behind it through the Kühling and Gillot families.
Over the years, the estate has acquired some of the best sites in Germany on the Rhine Terrace and added an architectural gem: its unique park and Art Deco pavilion, and stylish reception hall, tasting room, and vinothek. These have proved popular for a wide variety of events, including our tasting.
The vineyard area of Weingut Kuehling-Gillot totals 11 hectares, with holdings in: Burgweg (Bodenheim), Kreuz and Sackträger (Oppenheim), Ölberg and Pettental (Nierstein) and Rothenberg (Nackenheim). Grape varieties planted are Riesling (4,3 ha), Pinot Noir (0,9 ha), Pinot Gris (0,8 ha), Portugieser (0,8 ha), Chardonnay (0,5 ha) and Scheurebe (0,4 ha).
Annual production is around 70.000 bottles of wine. The estate is a member of the VDP association. Caroline Spanier-Gillot is a member of Message in a Bottle and Vinissima. Weingut Kuehling-Gillot is now fully biodynamic.
Weingut Kuehling-Gillot owns five Grosse Lagen (Grand Cru) sites. These are: Spätburgunder Bodenheim Burgweg, grown on sandy marl limestone; Riesling Nackenheim Rothenberg, grown on red slate; Riesling Nierstein Pettenthal, grown on red slate; Riesling Nierstein Ölberg, grown on red slate; and Spätburgunder Oppenheim Kreuz, grown on shell limestone/loess.
Pictures: At Weingut Kuehling-Gillot. See: The Wine Maker Couple H.O. Spanier and Carolin Spanier-Gillot, with Roland Gillot, Lead Wine Tasting of Kuehling-Gillot and Battenfeld-Spanier Wines at Weingut Kuehling-Gillot, Germany
Biodynamic Wine Making
Carolin and H.O. are very much into “green winemaking”. They share a comitment to leaving a legacy of healthy soil and great wines. To that end, when it comes to the vineyard, they employ biodynamic methods and constantly strive to maintain healthy soils with the capacity to sustain vines. As for making the wine in the cellar, they share the philosophy of what H. O. calls “controlled laissez faire”.
Pooling
Although both estates continue to produce wine under their respective names – Weingut Kuehling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier - certain functions have been pooled. The tasting room and sales office for both estates is in Bodenheim at Weingut Kuehling-Gillot. As winemakers, both have stamped their wines with a unique signature, but H.O. is taking the lead in terms of winemaking at both estates. Essentially, when it comes to the wines of Weingut Kuehling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier, they carry the signature of H.O. Spanier.
Picture: Tasting at Weingut Kühling-Gillot in Bodenheim, with Frank Schuber and Roland Gillot. See: Wine Tasting at Weingut Kühling-Gillot in Bodenheim: Kühling-Gillot and Battenfeld-Spanier Wines – Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
A View from the UK
justerinis.com (UK): Kuhling-Gillot and Battenfeld-Spanier represent two estates brought together by marriage but produced by one winemaking team in one cellar. Their focus is on producing great dry wines from top Rheinhessen vineyards with a minimum of intervention. In doing so they favour the savoury and the mineral over the overtly fruity. The Kuhling-Gillot vineyards are located in the Northern Rheinhessen, close to the river, in the red slate heartland between the villages of Nackenheim and Oppenheim. The estate’s history dates back over 200 years, though under different names: the family’s female side has run the estate for generation. Battenfeld-Spanier is a younger affair, set up by the ambitious Oliver Spanier in 1993. His vineyards are a further south, centred around the villages of Hohen-Sulzen, Nieder-Florsheim and Molsheim. Both estates are run to certified Biodynamic principals and without the use of fertilizer or pesticides. After hand harvesting, the grapes are kept on their skins for between 8 hours and three days depending on the vintage, before being fermented spontaneously. Vinification for all dry wines is done in 1200 litre wooden barrels, with constant topping up to minimize oxidation, the wines staying on their fine lees until the day of bottling. Of the two estates, the Kuhling-Gillot wines tend to be planted on slate soils while the Battenfeld-Spanier wines are all on limestone. The differences between the two soils types are rendered beautifully clearly because of the identical winemaking; the wines from limestone soils quiver with energy and cool minerality, those from slate tending more to tranquility and warm, fluid minerality. These two estates, run by the young, enthusiastic husband and wife team of Olivier and Carolin, are making some of Germany's most exciting dry wines and we are delighted to be bringing them into the UK for the first time.
Pictures: Annette and Christian Schiller with H.O. Spanier, Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling Gillot at Prowein 2015 in Düsseldorf
Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018
The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was released on Friday, November 24, 2017. I participated in the presentation of the Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 in Mainz, Germany. The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 is at the same time a new and an old German wine guide.
Picture: Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018
2 days after the publication of the Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018, on Monday, November 27, the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was released. The Gault Millau WeinGuide 2018 was published by Zabert + Sandmann, which had aquired the license for the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland in June 2017 from the Christian Verlag. The latter had published the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland for many years.
The Gault MillauWeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was put togather by a newly established team of tasters, all of them highly regarded, led by Editor-in-Chief Britta Wiegelmann. Previously, she was Editor-in-Chief of the Vinum Wine Journal. She took over the position from Joel B. Payne, who had been the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland Editor-in-Chief (earlier with Armin Diel) since it was first published in 1994.
Joel B. Payne - along with his Deputy Carsten S. Henn - stayed with the Christian Verlag, managed to bring on board the Vinum Journal and decided to continue publishing a wine guide under a new name: The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland was borne.
The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was put togather Joel B. Payne, Editor-in-Chief, and Carsten Henn, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, with the same team that put togather and rated the wines and winemakers of the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2017, published 12 months ago. The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 looks very much like the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2017 except for the color of the cover, which is red and no longer green. Also, the winemakers do not receive 1 to 5 grapes anymore but 1 to 5 stars.
Joel B. Payne made clear that he sees the Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 as an update of the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2017 and in a row with the previous 24 issues of the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland, the production of which he led as Editor-in-Chief. Red is now the new Green, said Joel B. Payne at the presentation of the Vinum Weinguide Deutschland 2018 (which is red), while the cover of the Gault Millau Millau WeinGuide Deutschland has been green during the past 24 years and continues to be green.
schiller-wine - Related Postings
Ombiasy Wine Tours 2018: 3 x France and 3 x Germany - Ombiasy Newsletter December 2017
Falstaff Winemaker of the Year 2015: Carolin Spanier Gillot, Weingut Kühling-Gillot and Weingut BattenfeldSpanier, Germany
Doepfner’s im Maingau Meets Frankfurt/Wein, with Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Chat Sauvage, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Germany’s Best Winemakers and Wines – Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 Awards: The Award Ceremony in Mainz, Germany
The Wine Maker Couple H.O. Spanier and Carolin Spanier-Gillot, with Roland Gillot, Lead Wine Tasting of Kuehling-Gillot and Battenfeld-Spanier Wines at Weingut Kuehling-Gillot, Germany
VDP.Rheinhessen Invited to a Gala Dinner: The World Class Wines of the VDP.Rheinhessen Winemakers and the World Class Food of Philipp Stein (1 Star Michelin, Favorite), with Klaus Peter Keller, Philipp Wittmann, H.O.Spanier, Caroline Gillot-Spanier and Other Rheinhessen Stars
Biodynamic Wine Making
Carolin and H.O. are very much into “green winemaking”. They share a comitment to leaving a legacy of healthy soil and great wines. To that end, when it comes to the vineyard, they employ biodynamic methods and constantly strive to maintain healthy soils with the capacity to sustain vines. As for making the wine in the cellar, they share the philosophy of what H. O. calls “controlled laissez faire”.
Pooling
Although both estates continue to produce wine under their respective names – Weingut Kuehling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier - certain functions have been pooled. The tasting room and sales office for both estates is in Bodenheim at Weingut Kuehling-Gillot. As winemakers, both have stamped their wines with a unique signature, but H.O. is taking the lead in terms of winemaking at both estates. Essentially, when it comes to the wines of Weingut Kuehling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier, they carry the signature of H.O. Spanier.
A View from the UK
justerinis.com (UK): Kuhling-Gillot and Battenfeld-Spanier represent two estates brought together by marriage but produced by one winemaking team in one cellar. Their focus is on producing great dry wines from top Rheinhessen vineyards with a minimum of intervention. In doing so they favour the savoury and the mineral over the overtly fruity. The Kuhling-Gillot vineyards are located in the Northern Rheinhessen, close to the river, in the red slate heartland between the villages of Nackenheim and Oppenheim. The estate’s history dates back over 200 years, though under different names: the family’s female side has run the estate for generation. Battenfeld-Spanier is a younger affair, set up by the ambitious Oliver Spanier in 1993. His vineyards are a further south, centred around the villages of Hohen-Sulzen, Nieder-Florsheim and Molsheim. Both estates are run to certified Biodynamic principals and without the use of fertilizer or pesticides. After hand harvesting, the grapes are kept on their skins for between 8 hours and three days depending on the vintage, before being fermented spontaneously. Vinification for all dry wines is done in 1200 litre wooden barrels, with constant topping up to minimize oxidation, the wines staying on their fine lees until the day of bottling. Of the two estates, the Kuhling-Gillot wines tend to be planted on slate soils while the Battenfeld-Spanier wines are all on limestone. The differences between the two soils types are rendered beautifully clearly because of the identical winemaking; the wines from limestone soils quiver with energy and cool minerality, those from slate tending more to tranquility and warm, fluid minerality. These two estates, run by the young, enthusiastic husband and wife team of Olivier and Carolin, are making some of Germany's most exciting dry wines and we are delighted to be bringing them into the UK for the first time.
Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018
The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was released on Friday, November 24, 2017. I participated in the presentation of the Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 in Mainz, Germany. The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 is at the same time a new and an old German wine guide.
2 days after the publication of the Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018, on Monday, November 27, the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was released. The Gault Millau WeinGuide 2018 was published by Zabert + Sandmann, which had aquired the license for the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland in June 2017 from the Christian Verlag. The latter had published the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland for many years.
The Gault MillauWeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was put togather by a newly established team of tasters, all of them highly regarded, led by Editor-in-Chief Britta Wiegelmann. Previously, she was Editor-in-Chief of the Vinum Wine Journal. She took over the position from Joel B. Payne, who had been the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland Editor-in-Chief (earlier with Armin Diel) since it was first published in 1994.
Joel B. Payne - along with his Deputy Carsten S. Henn - stayed with the Christian Verlag, managed to bring on board the Vinum Journal and decided to continue publishing a wine guide under a new name: The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland was borne.
The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 was put togather Joel B. Payne, Editor-in-Chief, and Carsten Henn, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, with the same team that put togather and rated the wines and winemakers of the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2017, published 12 months ago. The Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 looks very much like the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2017 except for the color of the cover, which is red and no longer green. Also, the winemakers do not receive 1 to 5 grapes anymore but 1 to 5 stars.
Joel B. Payne made clear that he sees the Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 as an update of the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2017 and in a row with the previous 24 issues of the Gault Millau WeinGuide Deutschland, the production of which he led as Editor-in-Chief. Red is now the new Green, said Joel B. Payne at the presentation of the Vinum Weinguide Deutschland 2018 (which is red), while the cover of the Gault Millau Millau WeinGuide Deutschland has been green during the past 24 years and continues to be green.
schiller-wine - Related Postings
Ombiasy Wine Tours 2018: 3 x France and 3 x Germany - Ombiasy Newsletter December 2017
Falstaff Winemaker of the Year 2015: Carolin Spanier Gillot, Weingut Kühling-Gillot and Weingut BattenfeldSpanier, Germany
Doepfner’s im Maingau Meets Frankfurt/Wein, with Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Chat Sauvage, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Germany’s Best Winemakers and Wines – Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2018 Awards: The Award Ceremony in Mainz, Germany
The Wine Maker Couple H.O. Spanier and Carolin Spanier-Gillot, with Roland Gillot, Lead Wine Tasting of Kuehling-Gillot and Battenfeld-Spanier Wines at Weingut Kuehling-Gillot, Germany
VDP.Rheinhessen Invited to a Gala Dinner: The World Class Wines of the VDP.Rheinhessen Winemakers and the World Class Food of Philipp Stein (1 Star Michelin, Favorite), with Klaus Peter Keller, Philipp Wittmann, H.O.Spanier, Caroline Gillot-Spanier and Other Rheinhessen Stars
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