Peter Jakob Kühn
Peter Jakob Kühn farms 21 hectares in Oestrich-Winkel in the Rheingau, planted almost exclusively with Riesling. Peter Bernhard and Viktoria Kühn run the estate founded in 1786 by Jacobus Kühn, now in its twelfth generation. The family has farmed biodynamically since 2004, Demeter-certified since 2009, with sheep grazing between the rows, horn manure and valerian. The musts ferment spontaneously, the wines remain unfined and age for extended periods on full lees in large wooden casks. The vineyards lie between Oestrich, Mittelheim and Hallgarten, on loess, quartzite and clay marl; Doosberg, Jungfer and Sankt Nikolaus yield Grosses Gewächs, while the Lenchen produces Auslese and Beerenauslese wines.
Oestrich-Winkel, twelve generations of Kühn
In 1786 Jacobus Kühn founded a wine estate in Oestrich-Winkel that the family has never relinquished since; his first name now graces the entry-level wine Jacobus. In 1978 Angela and Peter Jakob Kühn took over in the eleventh generation and steered the estate from quantity toward quality; the Riesling was meant to express its origin, and chemicals disappeared from the vineyards. In 2004 Peter Jakob Kühn switched to biodynamic farming, with sheep between the vine rows, horn manure and valerian, and since 2009 the estate has carried the Demeter seal.
Peter Bernhard and Viktoria Kühn
In 2012 Peter Bernhard and Viktoria Kühn joined the estate, which they now run in the twelfth generation. Peter Bernhard Kühn had previously worked in Alsace and with Burgundy producers; since then the Kühns have honed their handling of acidity and extraction more precisely. In recent years the Rauenthaler Baiken and the Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg have joined the existing vineyards of Doosberg, Oestricher Klosterberg, Lenchen, Sankt Nikolaus, Hallgartener Hendelberg and Jungfer; several of these are classified by the VDP as Grosses Gewächs.
Vineyards between Oestrich, Mittelheim and Hallgarten
The Doosberg, in standard German Dachsberg ("badger hill"), lies at around 120 metres in Oestrich; Kühn's parcel occupies a knoll with constant wind exposure, which keeps the grapes healthy through ripening. The soil consists of calcareous loess loam over terrace sediments and rock from the Alzey Formation, a marine sand threaded with strong Taunus quartz. Directly above, at around 220 metres, begins Kühn's share of the Hallgarten Jungfer, facing southeast and cooler than the Doosberg. Its soil is erosion material from the Rheingau mountains with a high quartzite content, mixed with loess loam.
In the Sankt Nikolaus stand Kühn's oldest vines, up to 65 years old. The vineyard lies in Mittelheim directly on the Rhine, by the ferry to Ingelheim, slopes gently to the south and has calcareous, sandy loess with terrace sediments. The Lenchen, named after the "Lehne" (slope) of the Pfingstbach stream, stretches above the estate at 120 to 170 metres toward the north, with a 12 to 15 percent gradient facing west. Its gravelly loess soils are threaded with ferrous quartzite and clay marl; the local field name Eiserberg records this. The stream's morning mists carry botrytis into the vines, which is why the Lenchen produces mainly off-dry and nobly sweet Rieslings, Auslese and Beerenauslese. Since 2018 the Kühns have also made a Grosses Gewächs here, from a parcel planted in 1964.
Hand harvest, spontaneous fermentation, full lees
Grapes are picked by hand, then the Kühns press the whole clusters over several hours, let the must ferment spontaneously and age the wine for 16 months on full lees in Stück and Doppelstück casks of 1,200 and 2,400 litres, without altering the composition of the musts. The Jungfer rests every year in the same Stockinger wooden cask, acquired by the estate specifically for this purpose, and therefore shows barely any oak influence. The wines are not fined, and only a small amount of sulphur is added. Alongside the Grosses Gewächs and premier vineyard wines, the estate produces the unique Rieslings Landgeflecht and Schlehdorn, a Pinot Noir from the Hallgartener Frühernberg, and sparkling wines from Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir.