The Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt winery is located in Schloss Marienlay in Morscheid on the Ruwer River. Previously, the wines were vinified in the well-known Palais Kesselstatt, in the heart of Trier's city center, opposite Trier Cathedral, before the winery moved to the Ruwer in 1999. The Palais is now the winery's own wine tavern and popular restaurant. The winery currently cultivates a total of 46 hectares of vines, distributed almost equally across all three river valleys (Moselle, Saar, Ruwer) – a unique feature, as besides Kesselstatt, only the Episcopal wineries in Trier own vineyards in all three river valleys. Listing all the winery's vineyards would take too long, as one top vineyard follows another in its portfolio. A total of 11 VDP.Große Lagen (Grand Cru) are located there, among the best vineyards on the Moselle, Saar, and Ruwer. These include legendary vineyards such as Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Kaseler Nies'chen, Ockfener Bockstein, and Scharzhofberger. A unique portfolio of vineyards that is unparalleled! Besides Riesling, which accounts for 96%, Pinot Blanc (Weißburgunder) is also cultivated here. Since July 2020, the winery has been managed by Dr. Karsten Weyand, an internationally renowned oenologist. He is supported by the experienced cellar master Wolfgang Mertes, who has been responsible for the vinification of Kesselstatt wines since 2005. In the same year, the winery became a member of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP). Together, they are working to further increase wine quality in the coming years. Over 30 years ago, the winery already focused on the production of dry, top-quality wines, at a time when predominantly sweet wines were produced on the Moselle, Saar, and Ruwer. The then-managing director and owner, Annegret Reh-Gartner, already saw the potential for the production of great, dry Rieslings. She fought passionately for their recognition, both nationally and internationally, because the light, elegant and mineral wines did not have an easy time in a period when the relevant trade press mainly awarded top marks to powerful and alcohol-rich power wines. Mrs. Gartner was right, because her aged dry wines, with 20 years and more of bottle aging, present themselves excellently today and were true precursors of today's Great Wines. The winery has been awarded numerous prizes by the trade press and is rated with three grapes in Gault & Millau.



"One of the oldest wineries in Germany"

The Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt winery is one of the oldest wineries in the region and in all of Germany. Since the first documented mention of the purchase of "vineyards" for the
Tracing its history back to the knightly family von Kesselstatt in 1349, the winery boasts over 670 years of tradition. A pivotal year was 1787, when the last Archbishop and Elector of Trier, Clemens Wenzeslaus, ordered the planting of Riesling and Elbling instead of the "reprehensible Rhine vines," which he considered to produce inferior grapes with excessive acidity. He thus entered history as the "Riesling Prince" and ensured the widespread cultivation of Riesling in the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region. Between 1854 and 1889, the von Kesselstatt family purchased four former Maximinian monasteries along with their vineyards on the Mosel, Saar, and Ruwer rivers. The top vineyards of Josephshof (Graach - Mosel), Domklausenhof (Piesport - Mosel), Abteihof (Oberemmel - Saar), and St. Irminenhof (Kasel - Ruwer) still form the core of the winery's unique portfolio. In 1978, Günther Reh, a successful entrepreneur from Leiwen who made a name for himself in the sparkling wine industry with his company Faber, acquired the winery. His daughter Annegret was immediately passionate about the traditional winery and took over the operation in 1983 after completing her winemaking apprenticeship – a novelty, as the wine world was then dominated by men, and a woman as winery director was almost unthinkable at the time. However, with her great passion for Riesling, eloquence, and charisma, she quickly made a name for herself in the industry and brought the winery great recognition in Germany and worldwide. Hardly anyone championed German Riesling internationally as much as she did! One of her most important tasks at the winery was the gradual reduction of vineyard acreage. In the mid-1980s, the winery still cultivated over 100 hectares of vines! The long travel times to the plots scattered across all three river valleys were no longer efficient, and so the vineyard area was gradually reduced to the current 46 hectares, which significantly improved the quality of the individual wines! With the construction of the new winery, Annegret Reh-Gartner had perfectly positioned the business for the future after 33 years, before she passed away much too early in 2016.



"A pioneer for great dry Rieslings"

In the vineyard, the team at Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt consistently relies on yield-reducing measures, such as thinning the grapes and green harvesting in late summer. Leaf removal in the grape zone in early autumn ensures that the ripening grapes are well-ventilated and remain healthy for as long as possible, which is crucial for the production of great dry wines. Many of the best vineyards contain old, partly rootstock Riesling vines. In autumn, the grapes are selectively hand-picked into small baskets to bring them to the new winery as undamaged as possible. There, the grapes are gently processed on state-of-the-art pressing equipment and fermented in stainless steel tanks in the cool cellar, preferably with native yeasts. With such a large number of top vineyards in all three river valleys, the challenge for cellar master Wolfgang Mertes is to bring the terroir of each individual vineyard as faithfully as possible to the bottle, thus making the unmistakable origin of the wines perceptible to the nose and palate. Most wines remain on the fine lees until shortly before bottling, giving them a fine, silky texture and aromatic depth. The Große Gewächse (Great Wines) are partly aged in large wooden barrels to give them even more structure and expressiveness.



"Excellent food companion with fantastic aging potential"

The Kesselstatt portfolio is divided into four lines. The VDP.Gutsweine can generally contain both our own grapes and purchased grapes from various vineyards along all three rivers and are uncomplicated, refreshing wines for everyday enjoyment. The VDP.Ortsweine and VDP.Grosse Lage wines are subdivided into the three collections Mosel, Saar and Ruwer, which are clearly indicated on the labels. Typical of Kesselstatt wines is their excellent suitability as food companions. They particularly benefit from a few years of maturation, because with age...
the wines increasingly reflect the unique terroir of the individual vineyards and develop a fine mellowness as well as aromatic depth.