Balthasar Ress was founded in 1870 by a hotelier of that name, who wanted to make wine to serve his guests. Now run by the fourth and fifth generations of the family, the company still produces wine under Balthasar’s original brand name: ’Von Unserm’, literally ‘from us’, a dry, multi-vineyard blend that represents the house style. From their base in Hattenheim, in the epicentre of the Rheingau, Ress control many superb vineyards that are bottled as single-site wines.
Schloss Reichartshausen is a monopole – a vineyard owned in its entirety by the Ress family. It belonged to the Cistercian monastery Kloster Eberbach from the early twelfth century, and until the early nineteenth century was one of the monastery’s important outlying properties. The vineyard here is flat and the soil is a mix of chalk and deep loess with gravelly sections.
Grapes were tipped directly into the wine press to avoid crushing and pumping. Once the must had settled, fermentation took place in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Malolactic fermentation was blocked to preserve crispness.
This complex Riesling Spätlese offers aromas of red apple, dried stone fruit and warm minerals. Concentrated and layered in the mouth, with real backbone complementing the ripeness.