The Van Volxem winery is located in Wiltingen, the largest and most important winegrowing community in the Saar region. The owner of the winery is Roman Niewodniczanski, known as "Niewo" - the youngest scion of the Bitburger dynasty and a passionate wine lover. While his two brothers manage the Bitburger brewery group, Roman lost his heart to wine early on. It was a bottle of 1971 Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Auslese Goldkapsel, enjoyed with his grandfather Theobald Simon - founder of the Bitburger brewery - that impressed him so profoundly that he decided to own a winery himself one day. His ignited love for wine led him to undertake numerous wine trips during his studies of economic geography and business administration. He sampled wines across the globe, visiting the best châteaux in Bordeaux and the finest domaines in Burgundy, to understand what exactly makes a great wine. Anyone who has been to the present-day drawing-room of the historic winery in the center of Wiltingen will understand that Roman truly took his "liquid education" seriously. A continuous wooden border runs through the large room at eye level. On it, bottle after bottle from the world's most famous wineries dating back to the 20th century are lined up: Romanée-Conti, Henri Jayer, Leroy, Petrus, Mouton Rothschild, Haut-Brion, and of course, the finest growths from Mosel-Saar-Ruwer à la Egon Müller and Joh. Jos. Prüm - in short: the crème de la crème of the wine world, which makes every wine lover's pulse race, is lined up here as Roman Niewodniczanski's vinous memory. The man has taste! He knows a story for every bottle, because each bottle helped him understand a little more about what a truly great wine tastes like. Because only those who know what a great wine tastes like know their goal when they set out to produce a truly great wine themselves.

With the intention of establishing a world-renowned winery, he set out into the world in search of an estate that met his high standards. At that time, it was fashionable to buy a chic winery overseas or in Tuscany, but Roman Niewodniczanski had already explored success strategies of the Mosel region compared to other wine-growing areas in his diploma thesis. He thus concluded that here, in the Saar region, only about 45 minutes from his hometown of Bitburg, perfect conditions would prevail in the long run to produce world-class wines, even with advancing climate change. However, at that time, German viticulture in general, and viticulture on the Saar in particular, was at rock bottom. Apart from a few lighthouse operations, such as Egon Müller, the prices paid for Saar wines were in the basement. These were ideal conditions for the visionary investor Roman Niewodniczanski to take over the Weingut Van Volxem, which at that time operated under the name Jordan & Jordan, in the year 2000. From the outset, he had a clear vision: to lead the estate back to the world's elite, to where Saar wines already stood over 100 years ago! For at the turn of the century, the wines of Mosel-Saar-Ruwer were the most famous and most expensive wines in the world! Old wine lists from luxury hotels and restaurants prove that our Saar wines cost many times more than today's world-famous and exorbitantly expensive Bordeaux and Burgundy wines. In many of these then world-famous sites, such as Scharzhofberger or Wiltinger Gottesfuß, the winery had owned large holdings since the early 18th century. It was a founding member of the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates (VDP) and at that time had great potential waiting to be unleashed. Roman's takeover marked the beginning of the spectacular comeback of Van Volxem wines. Today, some 20 years later, it can be justifiably said that the wines are undoubtedly among the best white wines in the country. Niewo's commitment already bore its first fruits in 2002 when the Gault & Millau Wine Guide named the winery "Discovery of the Year." Numerous awards were to follow in the coming years. Vinum Winemaker of the Year 2018, 4 red grapes in Gault & Millau, 5 Falstaff stars – the relevant wine guides agree: Van Volxem embodies world-class! The provisional highlight was the award of the Van Volxem Scharzhofberger P. Großes Gewächs 2017 in Gault & Millau as the best dry white wine in Germany – an absolute premiere for the Saar, as never before had our dry wines received such appreciation! But it was a long and rocky road to get here...

The winery itself dates back to a Roman villa, the remains of which can still be seen on the winery's grounds today. On this foundation, the Luxembourg Jesuit order built the monastery winery in 1743, in the historic center of Wiltingen, directly opposite the Wiltingen "Saar-Dom". It was also monks who, from the 11th century onwards, rediscovered the vineyards of the estate, which had already been established by the Romans in the 3rd century in the best slate sites of the Saar. After the Saar region was conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte, church properties were expropriated and auctioned off to the highest bidder during the so-called secularization. This is how the winery came into the possession of Gustav van Volxem, a brewer from Brussels. He recognized the enormous potential of the winery's own sites, which were classified as sites of the highest quality in the Prussian site classification of 1865, and for which, consequently, the most taxes had to be paid. The Belgian brewer took advantage of these optimal conditions and developed the winery into one of the most renowned estates in the empire at the time. Around the turn of the century, the winery was to reach its zenith, as its wines enjoyed great worldwide prestige and were traded at top prices, many times higher than today's prestigious Bordeaux or Champagne. For a total of four generations, the winery was owned by the Van Volxem family, until in 1993, the Munich entrepreneur Peter Jordan took over the winery and gave it the name "Jordan & Jordan". With moderate success, as it turned out, because the wines could not reach the quality of the former Van Volxem wines, and so the former showpiece winery gradually fell into disrepair. At the end of the 90s, the winery was on the verge of bankruptcy. This was the chance for the young Roman Niewodniczanski to take over the dilapidated winery and breathe new life into it. First, he had the beautiful manor house lovingly restored and gave the winery back its old name: VAN VOLXEM. After further investments in cellars, machinery, and vineyards, the quality of the Van Volxem wines was continuously improved, and the efforts were soon to be rewarded. After being readmitted to the VDP in 2007, the winery, under the direction of Dominik Völk, the former cellar master who joined in 2004, really took off and continuously expanded into other top sites on the Saar, such as Kanzemer Altenberg, Ockfener Bockstein, or Wawerner Goldberg. In addition, the winery has made a name for itself through various recultivation projects of old, long-forgotten sites.

The recultivation of the once world-famous Ockfener Geisberg vineyard has made waves in the wine world. Around 1900, this unique site was among the most valuable in the Mosel region. However, it was always considered cool and susceptible to frost, causing it to fall into increasing oblivion during the difficult 80s and 90s. Nothing but a birch forest with a few scattered vineyard stakes, reminiscent of the glorious past days, remained of the former top site when Roman Niewodniczanski had the vegetation cleared in 2016 and 14 hectares of this legendary site replanted with the best Riesling vines. The 2020 vintage will see the very first wine from the newly planted parcels, the Van Volxem Geisberg Kabinett 2020. We have already had a first look and were able to taste the wine from the barrel - an experience! Very individual aromas, strongly characterized by herbs, very dense and complex - what a debut! You can pre-order the wine from us now.

In total, Van Volxem now cultivates 85 hectares of vineyards, making it by far the largest estate on the Saar, and one of the largest wineries in Germany. 95% of the area is planted with Riesling, the other 5% with Pinot Blanc.

After the winery grew to a considerable size over the years, the old estate building was bursting at the seams and a new solution had to be found. After more than three years of planning and construction, the opening of the newly built manufactory on July 6, 2019, marks a new chapter in the glorious history of Van Volxem. Located precisely at the crossroads of all its vineyards, in the geographical center of Saar winegrowing on Wiltinger Schlossberg, a superlative winery was created on the 7-hectare site: The complex of production and presentation rooms includes two interconnected underground buildings, four wine cellars, a spacious outdoor area with a large pond as a water reservoir, and a monumental two-story tower, from whose top floor an 8.6 x 2 m panoramic window offers a unique view over the Saarbogen below to the Grand Cru sites of the Saar. Following the historical model of a Prussian winegrowing domain, "one of Europe's most modern, newly built wine manufactories" was created here, as Fabian Theis, managing director of VDP Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, aptly put it. With every step through this prestigious building, one notices the attention to detail and meticulousness with which aesthetics and functionality have been harmonized. All workflows have been optimized down to the smallest detail to ensure a perfect workflow for optimal wine processing, without compromising on appearance. Thus, the new winery impresses with a wood barrel and rarities cellar completely clad in natural stone, which alone would be worth a report. In gleaming, honeycomb-arranged stainless steel tanks in the rarities cellar, selected wines mature into true rarities, following historical models. In the wood barrel cellar, the best wines of the winery are aged in large, so-called Doppelstück barrels. These 2,400l oak barrels were specially crafted by the world-famous Austrian cooperage Stockinger from the finest oak from the family's own Eifel oaks. In short: no expense was spared here, and the new cellar offers the new winemaker Christoph Friedrich the ideal playground for producing outstanding wines. The new cellar construction was Roman Niewodniczanski's masterpiece to date, for which he was awarded the Meininger Excellence Award by the famous Meininger publishing house in 2020 for his unparalleled success story. This coveted award is given to individuals who have made special contributions to the wine world through their personal commitment, to make it "a bit better, more exciting, more interesting."

For Roman Niewodniczanski, viticulture is very much about precision. He compares the production of top wines to that of Swiss luxury watches. Only those who consistently demonstrate excellence and strive for perfection every day can achieve outstanding results! For him, a return to traditional craftsmanship plays a major role, as he is convinced that "many things should be done differently, but many cannot be done better." This refers to the centuries-old artisanal foundations with which viticulture is practiced in the slate steep slopes of the Saar region. Many tasks are still carried out meticulously by hand today, just as they were then, or have been reinterpreted through the use of state-of-the-art technology. In principle, the vineyards of Van Volxem are cultivated close to nature and purely organically. This means that the soils are loosened with ploughs and vast amounts of humus are introduced to increase the soil's water retention capacity. This measure has proven to be absolutely correct, especially in the dry and hot vintages of recent years. The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is categorically rejected. In addition, new plantings are exclusively carried out with ungrafted, low-yielding vines from genetically valuable material with high planting densities of over 6,000 vines per hectare. Through accurate, hand-performed canopy management and consistent yield reduction through minimal pruning in winter, green harvesting, or grape splitting in summer, the yield is reduced to around 40 hl/ha. All these measures lead to golden-yellow and highly aromatic grapes, which are selectively hand-picked late in autumn, sometimes well into November, by an "army" of up to 100 harvest helpers in several passes. For many years, the conductor of this orchestra was Dominik Völk, cellar master, operations manager, and jack-of-all-trades at Van Volxem from 2004 to 2021. His contribution to the development of this flagship winery cannot be praised highly enough, as he steadily elevated the quality of Van Volxem wines year after year. In 2021, he handed over the baton to Christoph Friedrich, a Moselle native and a proven connoisseur of the steep-slope Rieslings from the Moselle, Saar, and Ruwer. He meticulously checks the incoming grapes before they reach the press house. On a conveyor belt, these are painstakingly selected once again by trained employees before they are crushed and left to macerate on the skins for several hours in a cooled state. The maceration time allows grape-specific enzymes to release aromas from the berry skins and ensures optimal aroma extraction and natural acid reduction through tartrate precipitation. This is one of the crucial adjusting screws for the intense aromatics and balanced taste impression of Van Volxem wines. Afterwards, the grapes are pressed as gently as possible in several state-of-the-art basket presses. The resulting must is then guided by gravity into the underground cellar, where it is allowed to clarify overnight. It is then decided whether the must should ferment and mature in stainless steel tanks or in oak barrels. Fermentation takes place spontaneously with natural yeasts, and the wines mature on their fine lees until bottling to give them their inner balance and a delicate silky texture.

Roman Niewodniczanski summarizes the style of Van Volxem wines as follows: "approachable natural wines with a clear vineyard profile and great aging potential. Wines in the style of the famous Saar wines around 1900." Niewo focuses on wines that are dry in taste and, with their complex aroma, ripe acid structure, and moderate alcohol content, are ideally suited as harmonious food accompaniments. In addition, both the single-vineyard wines and the supposedly simpler estate and village wines possess considerable aging potential. For example, the Schiefer Riesling is a typical dry Saar Riesling with crisp acidity, made from grapes purchased from long-standing contract growers. Its big brother, the Saar Riesling, is arguably the most charming wine in our range year after year. It is vinified from fully ripe grapes from our own cultivation and is the calling card of the estate. It impresses with its fully ripe aromatics and a wonderfully balanced taste experience with soft acidity. It has already been the winning wine four times in the Top 100 list of the renowned industry magazine Weinwirtschaft. The crowning glory of Van Volxem's entry-level range is the "Alten Reben" (Old Vines), a selection from Grand Cru sites with 60-120 year old vines, for which the designation "estate wine" seems laughable. This estate wine is so fine, so dense, and so mineral that it can easily compete with many of the Große Gewächse (Grand Crus) that are twice or three times as expensive, even in terms of aging potential. Also worth mentioning is the excellent Van Volxem Pinot Blanc. A charmer with elegant, intense fruit aromatics, low acidity, and a creamy texture. The ideal wine for asparagus! In addition to dry premium wines, Van Volxem naturally also produces fruity and noble sweet Prädikat wines, for which the Saar has become so famous.