Hochheimer Kirchenstuck Erstes Gewachs
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2040
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
roasted pork belly, pan-seared sea bass, creamy veal blanquette
✨ Technical Specifications
The Hochheimer Kirchenstück, or 'church plot,' is one of the Rheingau's most legendary vineyards, situated directly behind the historic late-Baroque church of St. Peter and Paul in Hochheim am Main. This south-facing slope benefits from a unique microclimate influenced by the nearby Main river, which acts as a thermal mirror, protecting the vines from frost and ensuring optimal ripening. The soils here are exceptionally rich, composed of deep clay-loess, sandy marl, and gravelly loam, which impart a signature power, density, and profound mineral tension to the wine. As an Erstes Gewächs, the historic Rheingau designation for a premier dry grand cru, Weingut Künstler crafts this Riesling using traditional methods, including gentle pressing and slow fermentation, often aging the wine in large, neutral oak casks. This process tempers the grape's vibrant, electric acidity with a creamy texture and complex notes of ripe stone fruits, petrol, and crushed wet stones.
🍾 About the Producer
Weingut Künstler traces an illustrious family winemaking lineage to 1648 in southern Moravia, before Franz Künstler re-established the estate in Hochheim am Main in 1965 following post-war expulsion. Gunter Künstler assumed direction in 1992, elevating the domaine into one of Germany's preeminent dry Riesling benchmarks and earning VDP membership in 1994. Spanning approximately 50 hectares, Künstler's vineyard portfolio centers on Hochheim's warm eastern Rheingau mesoclimate, featuring loess, loam, and mineral-dense limestone marl sloping down to the Main River, complemented by holdings in Rüdesheim and Assmannshausen. Viticulture is practiced under certified Fair'n Green sustainable standards, marked by meticulous canopy management, low yields, and strict selective hand-harvesting. Cellar work emphasizes slow, gentle pressing and extended lees maturation in traditional large neutral oak casks and stainless steel, capturing formidable textural richness alongside crystalline acidity. The estate is celebrated for power-driven, long-lived VDP.Große Gewächse from legendary sites including Hochheimer Hölle, Hochheimer Kirchenstück, and Assmannshäuser Höllenberg Spätburgunder.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling
🍷 ABV
12.5% - 13.5%