Dreissigacker

The Dreissigacker winery enjoys an excellent reputation, which was hard-earned over decades and which Jochen Dreissigacker has further cemented.

Dreissigacker – making great leaps into modernity

After just a few moments it becomes clear that Dreissigacker is truly passionate about its wines. The love of detail can already be found in the estate-quality wines and continues consistently through to the single-vineyard bottlings. In doing so, Dreissigacker places immense value on sustainable practices in both vineyard and cellar. The decision to convert to organic viticulture is not a matter of blindly following trends, but the consequence of a deep passion for its wines and sites. This is associated with a higher level of manual work, since weeding and aeration are now carried out exclusively by hand. Another aspect of the quality philosophy of Dreissigacker wines is yield reduction. There is no way around this for quality wines. During the "green harvest" at least one third of the grapes are cut off. These improve soil quality as a natural fertilizer, attract beneficial organisms and ensure that the vine can focus on the remaining grapes. The result is more extract-rich, fully ripe berries that, thanks to better aeration, are more resistant to undesirable rot.

The harvest

At Dreissigacker, as you would expect, harvesting is done by hand and selectively. This means that a plot is harvested several times, since only physiologically fully ripe berries are picked. The cellar buildings of Dreissigacker are located right in the center of the small town of Bechtheim, guaranteeing short distances and thus maximum harvest freshness of the grapes. The vineyards of Dreissigacker stretch like a crescent around the small village in Wonnegau.
The following sites are planted with Riesling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Silvaner:

• Dreissigacker planted Hasensprung, Aulerde, Geyersberg, Rosengarten and Morstein with Riesling
• Einzigacker was planted with Pinot Blanc
• on Kirchspiel you will find Silvaner as well as Riesling

Dreissigacker – patience and care

After Jochen Dreissigacker took over his parents' winery, he not only initiated soil reform towards organic farming, but also began replanting the best sites of the Dreissigacker estate. The result can be found in the form of the “Wunderwerk” masterpieces in the glass. The background to these wines is one of the most delicious compromises we have been able to taste so far. Since the age of the vines was not yet sufficient for the highest VDP classifications, but the best sites should not disappear into village and estate wines, Jochen Dreissigacker decided to vinify unadulterated Rieslings and Pinot Noirs from the young vines. The quality achieved was so high that after the first tastings the name “Wunderwerk” was set in stone. For the wines of the Wunderwerk series, Dreissigacker has used exclusively vines from the Rosengarten, Geyersberg and Stein sites, whose age ranges between five and fifteen years. So that the still young vines deliver perfect grapes, only 50% of the fruit remain on the vine after the green harvest and are allowed to ripen. These are harvested at different stages of ripeness and gently pressed, then stored separately before, once assembled, they are allowed to follow the path taken by all Dreissigacker wines.

If one wanted to sum up the vinification of the grapes at Dreissigacker in two words, one could describe it with two words – patience and care. The selectively hand-picked grapes are transported to the winery in small containers and gently pressed. No cultured yeasts are used. Only the yeasts naturally present on the grapes are responsible for the fermentation process, which lasts several weeks. To create an optimal final product, at Dreissigacker the young wine is transferred into stainless steel tanks and large wooden casks after fermentation. During the subsequent maturation it is tasted again and again in order to find the ultimately suitable assemblage – a Sisyphean task that is well worth the effort!