The Vinum
Weinguide Germany 2023 was released in November 2022, presenting Vinum's choice
of Germany’s best 1 000 wine producers and reviewing more than 10 700
wines on 1118 pages.
5 out of 5 stars („world class“) were
awarded to 18 estates.
Germany's 18 Top Winemakers (With 5/5 Stars) - Vinum WeinGuide Deutschland 2023
There are 3 new names on the list: Aldinger, Battenfeld-Spanier and Kühling-Gillot.
Congratulations!
We have visited all 3 wineries on recent Germany tours by ombiasy WineTours.
Battenfeld-Spanier
Weingut Kühling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier are jointly owned and run by Carolin Spanier-Gillot and H.O. Spanier. While H.O. Spanier is focussing more on the vineyard and cellar work, Carolin Spanier-Gillot is focussing more on the marketing and administrative work for both estates.
28 hectares
75% Riesling
Battenfeld-Spanier (drinkOKwines)
Battenfield-Spanier is co-owned by Carolin Spanier-Gillot and her husband H.O. Spanier. They are located in the Rheinhessen - in northern Germany close to the Rheingau. The Rheinhessen is the largest region in Germany and has over 24,000 hectares (65,000+ acres) and there are tons of different terroirs; historically, it has been more notorious for making wine that is more about quantity than quality.
But that is changing and Carolin & H.O. are leading the charge, from H.O.:
"When I founded my wine estate at the age of 20, restoring soil vitality was one of my most important goals.
The grape vine is an interpreter of the relationship between light and earth. I thought that I could do little to influence light processes, therefore I focused on the soil. The conversion of my vineyards in 1993 to ecological cultivation represented a natural and logical step. To my mind, wine should communicate a direct impression of the soil characteristics of the southern Wonnegau: marled chalk and chalk pebbles, all the way to solid limestone. One should be able to experience and taste the rock.
Riesling
is my vision. In the Wonnegau, no grape is able to translate light and
soil into wine as precisely or succulently. I judge Riesling’s
superficial fruitiness to be only a pretense. It is merely an
intermediate phase, before the metamorphosis to a true stone wine
begins. In reality, a natural Riesling wine is less fruit, and rather
much more herbs, spices, saltiness, and flint. That’s why my primary
slogan is LIQUID EARTH."
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
Kühling-Gillot
Weingut Kühling-Gillot and Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier are jointly owned and run by Carolin Spanier-Gillot and H.O. Spanier. While H.O. Spanier is focussing more on the vineyard and cellar work, Carolin Spanier-Gillot is focussing more on the marketing and administrative work for both estates.
15 hectares
60% Riesling, 25% Spätburgnder
Kühling-Gillot (Howard Ripley)
When Oliver Spanier of Battenfeld-Spanier married Carolin Gillot of Kühling-Gillot in 2016, it brought together two of Rheinhessen’s leading estates, and created its most glamorous couple. The wines are marketed separately, but he is the winemaker for both.
Kühling-Gillot’s prime holdings are on the Roter Hang (red slope), an iron-rich strip between Nierstein and Nackenheim along the Rhine, which includes the vineyards of Hipping, Pettenthal, Ölberg, Rothenberg, and Orbel. There are further vineyards in Oppenheim and Bodenheim.
Battenfeld-Spanier lies in the southern-most part of Rheinhessen, and the vines are grown on limestone, which gives them a lifted, citrus character. The estate converted to organic viticulture in 1992, and biodynamic in 1995. Both of them are now farmed biodynamically. If Prüm made wines in Rheinhessen, this is what they would be like: beautifully pure, restrained, and with the promise of a long life.
In late 2019 Battenfeld- Spanier was given the coveted 5-grape-cluster award by the Gault-Millau guide, while Kühling-Gillot was promoted to 4-grape cluster. They are now amongst the most highly regarded producers in Germany, a fantastic achievement.
Aldinger
Württemberg is a region even more obscure outside Germany than Baden, but it enjoys tremendous renown at home. The first and only producer in Württemberg to be given five stars by Vinum, the family has been established in Fellbach since 1492, both as coopers and wine-growers. In the sure hands of brothers Hansjörg and Matthias Aldinger, they have been propelled into the stratosphere of quality and acclaim.
29 hectares
30% Riesling, 15% Lemberger, 15% Spätburgunder
Aldinger (The Wine Barn)
Around 28% of Aldinger's vineyards are planted with Riesling, followed by a diverse range of both German and international varieties. The family’s flagship vineyard is Untertürkheimer Gips, a former gypsum mine which was converted to viticulture by the family in 1974. Marienglas is a small vineyard-within-a-vineyard, a tiny parcel in Untertürkheimer Gips with an unusually high proportion of a rare form of gypsum known as Marienglas. Aldinger's Rieslings and Spätburgunders that are grown there are elegant and juicy.
Weingut Aldinger (VDP)
The roots of this Fellbach estate stretch back to the 15th century,
with each successive generation building seamlessly onto the long
winegrowing tradition. The Aldinger family's particular joie de vivre
perhaps reflects that long historical perspective.
Gert Aldinger
assumed the helm in 1992, with all the responsibility that comes with
500 years of winegrowing tradition. 15 years later, the estate was
already counted among Württemberg's finest, with sons Hansjörg and
Matthias beginning their chapter at the forefront. "Working together
with nature is the only way to achieve world-class quality. We listen
carefully to the needs of our soil, vines and skies," Hansjörg Aldinger
proclaims. The grapes and fermenting must are treated as gently as
possible throughout the entire vinification. The guiding philosophy of
"less is more" has kept them on their ideal path: terroir-driven wines
that thrill in the glass.
Pictures: Gert Aldinger, Weingut Aldinger, Karl Eugen Erbgraf zu Neipperg, Weingut Des Grafen Neipperg and Annette Schiller See: 2017 VDP Trade Fair Weinbörse - Vintage 2016 - in Mainz: Schiller’s Report
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