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 Bechtheim is a small town in Rheinhessen, not easy to find without GPRS-almost equidistant from Frankfurt, Mainz and Mannheim - a definite plus for visitors to the cellar doors of the local wineries of the village. It has a small, quaint winery Weingut Erbeldinger owned and run by Stefan Erbeldinger and his family including his son Christoph and daughter Gudrun who coincidentally, met her Argentine husband at a tasting organised by Meininger, who are the owners and organisers of MundusVini.
It is built in a rather small surface area and could pass off as a farmhouse, with a chic restaurant-cum-tasting room welcoming visitors and private customers important for the business - around 25% of its 300,000-350,000 bottle sales are from customers coming from these these 3 cities and even other parts of Germany. The well-manicured vineyards surrounding the winery and the restaurant add to the landscape as well.
Weingut Erbeldinger is one of the 2600 producers of the region having a surface area of about 28,500 hAs, about 1600 of which are members of the Rheinhessen Wine Marketing Board which was formed by the regional government in 1961 through a law making it mandatory to pay €75/ hA to finance the Board which has an annual budget of around €2.6 million. The objective is to help wineries like Erbeldinger market their wines abroad besides popularising the region. The concept is being practiced by a majority of wine promotion boards in Germany, financed by the local industry.
 Thomas Schätzel is a vintner owning a small Kapellenhof Estate with 18 hA of land at the close-by town of Selzen. He is also the President of the Board for the last 12 years (each term is of 3 years and the incumbent can be re-elected). Welcoming a group of over 120 judges from around 40 countries, who were in Neustadt to taste at MundusVini he tells us about the history and background of the region and also how the producers like him and Erbeldinger are quality conscious, warm and welcoming people.
Seated next to me at the dinner table at the restaurant later in the evening, he takes pains to explain to me when I tell him that wineries like Black Tower had created the impression in countries outside Germany that the region was as big in bulk wines as its size. He says the impression has been created by exports of cheap wine as was demanded by the export market. It is one of the objectives of the Board to dispel this misconception.
Harvest 2015 in Rheinhessen
Winegrowers in Rheinhessen are expecting an interesting 2015 vintage. There was normal blooming in springtime. It takes another 100 days for grapes to ripen thereafter here. ‘I think we will start to harvest seriously in our region at this weekend, starting with some of the early aromatic grape varieties and the early ripening Pinots like Pinot Madeleine known as Frühburgunder (which means early ripening Pinot),’ says Thomas.
 Like in the nearby region of Pfalz which constitutes one of the 13 wine growing regions of Germany, there was no remarkable rainfall during the summer. This was no problem for the older vineyards with their roots deep in the ground. But it meant hard work and even weeks of suffering for the younger plants. He says, ‘we hoped for rainfall in the summer, even prayed for it. But, we didn't get any, and now we hope we don’t get a rainfall because we want to harvest healthy grapes and we want to harvest with pleasure. We are looking forward to some interesting weeks now in September. And for the Riesling and Silvaner grapes we hope for a golden October to encourage a full spectrum of subtle aromas and a fruity acidity in the wines of this vintage.’
History
Silvaner and Riesling are the two most important grapes in the region which has been known historically since the Romans came to Mainz 2000 years ago. In medieval times, numerous cloisters in the region became engines of the wine culture.
Riesling was earlier known as Rüssling and was mentioned for the first time in 1490 in a document stored in Worms. In March 1780, the first official demarcation of terroir in the wine history was made in Bechtheim, including the explicit directive that only Riesling and Traminer were to be planted there. Napoleon occupied what is today the region of Rheinhessen. From 1797 the region on the Rhine was part of French territory. The rulers were knowledgeable and sympathetic to wine culture, quality and the importance of origin and brought about an enormous improvement in the quality of the wine grown here. Places of origin, names like "Niersteiner", “Oppenheimer" or “Bechtheimer” were specifically enumerated in the wine description, said Thomas.
At the Congress of Vienna 1815 the area between Mainz, Worms and Bingen was classified as “Rheinhessen" and awarded to the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine in Darmstadt. 1816 is thus considered the year of birth of Rheinhessen and at least under this name it’s a relatively young region.
The wine trade in Bingen, Mainz and Worms had traditionally been dominated by Jewish businessmen, but the rise of violent national-socialism and anti-Semitism starting in 1933 brought a swift end to their trade. Their disappearance dealt a tremendous blow to the Rheinhessen wine economy, one that is still being felt even today, remarked Herr Schätzel.
Growth of Region
 The 1960s and 70s saw a rapid expansion of wine-growing in Rheinhessen when wineries like Erbeldinger, came into existence. This movement involved not only an increase in the area under vine, but also brought numerous new varieties to the region. Taking a cue from countries like the USA where red wine had an upsurge of demand in the 1990s due to the discovery of red wine as a healthy drink because of the anti oxidants, the trend followed in all corners of Rheinhessen in around 2000. In the time since then white wine plantings with Riesling, Weißburgunder (Pinot Blanc) and Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) increased, he says.
Quality Producers
Yet the greatest asset for the region these days is its cadre of vibrant, innovative producers. The past two decades brought an enormous qualitative leap to the region's wines. A friendly rivalry ensued among the winemakers who not only vied for making the finest wines, but also introduce top innovative styles in the region as well.
Above and beyond those efforts, cutting-edge equipment is being used by the region’s co-operative producers and wineries to deliver the large volumes of wines needed to service supermarkets and the export market. Rheinhessen exports more wine than any other wine-growing region in Germany. Thomas says the area produces 25% of the total production and handles similar percentage of about 25% of total German exports.
Wine Tourism
Another key in these efforts are the organizations and cooperatives working to drive wine tourism in Rheinhessen. One important victory in that process was the adoption of Mainz-Rheinhessen into the prestigious international network of Great Wine Capitals. People here are a bit individualistic (where are they not?!), but nevertheless are warm and welcoming, as we discovered after an equally inspiring short speech by the current wine-queen of the region, Isabelle Willersinn who finishes her one year term in a couple of weeks and throws her hat in the ring to become the German Queen for another year. Coincidentally, the elections for the national wine queen are held in Saalbau in Neustadt, where MundusVini is held every year.
Weingut Erbeldinger
Started by Stefan’s father Kurt Erbeldinger in the 60s during the boom time, the Weingut has 35 hA of vineyards. They focus on the German grapes with 60% of the area shared equally by Riesling, Pinot Noir and Weissburgunder. 30% is split between the red Portugieser, Dornfelder and the white Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau and Chardonnay and the rest with the miscellaneous varieties.
Sticking with the local traditions, the white wines are made only in stainless steel tanks and use of oak is limited to some reds, using 500 liter barrels. It was interesting to see tanks of different and small sizes to fit in the shape, including some square and an elliptical tank. Each parcel of land is harvested and vinified separately and blended later. Several styles of sparkling wines are also produced-Riesling Brut Nature (bone dry) was served to us at the reception. The second fermentation is done in bottles but is farmed out to a sparkling wine producer who gets the base wine from the winery.
This is a typical, small, family-owned and run winery in the region, where you would get a warm reception, based on the experience of our group. Erbeldinger welcomes guests and has a restaurant run by the Austrian girl-friend of Christoph, Gundi Haringer who is an experienced Chef with international cuisine as her specialty and keeps it running from 11:30- 5:00 in the evening (Sundays closed)-making it a pleasant visit where one can buy wines in cases (Reservations at 06244-4932 or essen@weingut-erbeldinger.de). White wines are of exquisite quality. Reds are evolving but the Privat range, though a bit expensive as mentioned earlier, is of excellent quality, especially the Pinot Noir (Spaetburgunder).
If you are in the Frankfurt area- or Mainz, Mannheim or even visiting Worm, Erbeldinger is the place to visit. For more details or information, please visit www.weingut-erbeldinger.de.
Subhash Arora |