schiller-wine: Tasting the Wines of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot at the Spanier Family Home in Hohen-Sülzen and Touring the Winery with Carolin Spanier-Gillot - Germany-South and Alsace 2018 Tour by ombiasy WineTours

Pictures: Tasting with Carolin Spanier-Gillot, Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot, in Hohen-Sülzen - Germany-South and Alsace 2018 Tour by ombiasy WineTours

Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot are among Germany's wineries that have reached world-class status. They are owned and run by the winermaker couple H.O.Spanier and Carolin Spanier-Gillot.

It was only in 1993 that H.O. Spanier founded Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier in Hohen-Sülzen at the southernmost tip of the Rheinhessen Wonnegau region. Weingut Kühling-Gillot can look back to a longer history. It is located in the north of the Rheinhessen region, close to Mainz. Carolin took over the winery from her parents after she finished her studies at Geisenheim University.

Pictures: Welcome - Carolin Spanier-Gillot

Since their marriage, Carolin and H.O. have reorganized and streamlined the operations of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot two wineries quite a bit.

There is no wine made in Bodenheim at Weingut Kühling-Gillot any more. The winemaking facilities of both Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot are in Hohen-Sülzen.

H.O. takes the lead in terms of winemaking for both wineries and Carolin is more active on the administrative and marketing side of both wineries.

Carolin and H.O. have constructed a lovely tasting room in Bodenheim at Weingut Kühling-Gillot which is the central place for selling and marketing the wines of both Weingut Kühling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier. You cannot buy wine of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier in Hohen-Sülzen, but only in Bodenheim.

Pictures: The Spanier Family Home in Hohen-Sülzen

Carolin and H.O. live with their children in Hohen-Sülzen in a posh villa just next to the winemakng facilities of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot.

This is where we were received by Carolin Spanier-Gillot for a tasting of both Weingut Kühling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier wines. The outlay of the villa allows for receiving guests in an intimite way, which is not possible in the tasting room in Bodenheim.

After the tasting, Carolin took us on a tour of the winemaking facilties in Hohen-Sülzen, where both the wines of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot are made.

Picture: 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, Carolin Gillot-Spanier and Other Rheinhessen Stars s

Pictures: Christian Schiller with H. O. Spanier and Caroline Spanier-Gillot at a Tasting in Bodenheim. 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

Pictures: At a Tasting in Bodenheim 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

Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier/ VDP

VDP: This estate is located in Hohen-Sülzen at the southernmost tip of the Wonnegau district, not far from Worms. The best vineyards are transversed by thick, underground beds of limestone from which the roots of the vines can absorb their final nutrients during the hot months of summer. Proprietor H.O. Spanier makes wine in an uncompromisingly natural manner. Thus, it comes as no surprise that he has cultivated his vines biodynamically since 2005. For Spanier, Riesling acts as a translator that interprets the influence of the southern Wonnegau’s extremely lime-rich soils in wine. “That’s what interests me: the spectrum of aromas of the stones and soil that lies beyond the fleeting sensation of fruit.”

Owner H.O. Spanier & Carolin Spanier-Gillot
Winemaker H.O. Spanier
VDP member since 2008
Hectares of vineyards 34
Bottle production 150 000
Grape varieties 70% Riesling, 18% Spätburgunder sowie Weissburgunder & Silvaner

Vineyards

KIRCHENSTÜCK, Hohen-Sülzen| VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
FRAUENBERG, Nieder-Flörsheim | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
ZELLERWEG AM SCHWARZEN HERRGOTT, Mölsheim | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
Monsheim | aus VDP.ERSTEN LAGEN®
Mölsheim | aus VDP.ERSTEN LAGEN®
Hohen-Sülzen | aus VDP.ERSTEN LAGEN®

Pictures: Touring the Wine Cellar in Hohen-Sülzen with Carolin Spanier-Gillot

Weingut Kühling-Gillot/ VDP

This wine estate lies in Bodenheim, not far from the renowned “Roter Hang” (red slope) – the porous red mix of slaty clay and sandstone that rises from the earth like a boulder near Nackenheim, only to disappear a few kilometers southward in Nierstein. The nearly 300-million-year-old ribbon of primary rock that surfaces here brings forth very distinctive wines. Organic viticulture is a fundamental prerequisite. At Kühling-Gillot, the usual late harvest, painstaking selection, and spontaneous fermentation in large oak casks enable the red slate to be perceptible in the wines. In their youth, the wines are charming and smooth; with time, they reveal their origin.

Owner Carolin Spanier-Gillot und H.O. Spanier
Winemaker H.O. Spanier
VDP member since 1997
Hectares of vineyards 18
Bottle production 90 000
Grape varieties 73% Riesling, 15% Spätburgunder

Vineyards

ORBEL, Nierstein | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
PETTENTHAL, Nierstein | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
ÖLBERG, Nierstein | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
HIPPING, Nierstein | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
BURGWEG, Bodenheim | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
KREUZ, Oppenheim | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
ROTHENBERG, Nackenheim | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
SACKTRÄGER, Oppenheim | VDP.GROSSE LAGE®
Bodenheim | aus VDP.ERSTEN LAGEN®
Nierstein | aus VDP.ERSTEN LAGEN®

Pictures: Tasting the Wines of Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Kühling-Gillot in Hohen-Sülzen, with Carolin Spanier-Gillot

The Wines Carolin Poured

2013 Weingut Kühling-Gillot, Nackenheimer Riesling 1er Cru
2013 Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier, Mölsheimer Riesling 1er Cru
2016 Weingut Kühling-Gillot, Nackenheimer Riesling 1er Cru
2016 Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier, Mölsheimer Riesling 1er Cru
2016 Weingut Kühling-Gillot, Pettenthal Riesling GG
2016 Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier, Kirchenstück Riesling GG

With regard to the 1er Cru on the labels of the first 4 wines, Carolin explained that Rheinhessen has 3-tier classification system: VDP.Gutswein, VDP.Ortswein and VDP.Grosse Lage. And, all wines sold as VDP.Ortswein have to come from a VDP.Erste Lage. Thus in effect, in Rheinhessen an Ortswein is a Erste Lage/ Premier Cru wine. The Rheinhessen VDP winemakers therefore are pushing for putting this information on the label. But the national VDP has not yet approved this.