For centuries, the Kühling-Gillot family has been producing wine along the Rhine on the legendary Grand Cru sites of the famous Roter Hang. Working the vineyards of the Rheinhessen region, which are spread over steep to even steeper slopes, the Kühling-Gillot family is proud to grow Riesling and Pinot Noir on certified biodynamic sites located between Bodenheim and Oppenheim. Since 2006, Carolin Spanier-Gillot, nature lover, oenologist, businesswoman and mother of two children, has been managing the family estate with her husband.
The careful work of the last few years has clearly shown that exceptional wine-growing sites have "genius loci", the spirit of the place, which expresses itself frankly in the wine. In today’s language, this concept is called "terroir". The estate’s parcels include some of the best VDP.ERSTE & VDP.GROSSE LAGE sites in the region. It has taken 10 years to expand, acquire, renew, replant, gently cultivate them and arrive at the healthy and stable state of their soils, grown organically since 2004 and now biodynamically, which allows one to speak of "origin" with confidence and good conscience.
The Rothenberg plot is the last ungrafted plot on the Roter Hang. Thanks to its isolated position, the vines there, first planted in 1934, escaped the official plot reallocations of the 1960s, a fact that the Kühling-Gillot family knew as early as the 1980s when they were offered this gem of a vineyard, hemmed in by a low stone wall on the steepest part of the vineyard, which would require arduous work driven by passion. Located at the top of the hillside, the vines benefit from the morning sun and cool autumn winds; these great wines represent an unbroken link to the historic grandeur of the Rothenberg.
At this latitude, Riesling is the ideal grape to make the experience of terroir tangible. As for the Pinot Noir, it grows on the limestone soils surrounding Oppenheim and Bodenheim. There, the fruit reaches a perfect maturity in sparse soils but is inclined to draw the heat to their depths. Wines with delicate aromas, only possible in northern climates, and a body of breathtaking finesse.
In the cellar, the wines ferment spontaneously in large wooden barrels and stainless steel tanks. No additives or fining agents are used. Minimal addition of sulphur completes the winemaking process.
Just as you can’t make grass grow faster by pulling on the blades, you can’t improve the wine by forcing it to mature quickly, so some of the wines from this estate come to market two or even three years after the harvest, but the wait is amply rewarded.