Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spatlese
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2038
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Thai curry, glazed pork belly, blue cheese
✨ Technical Specifications
The Ockfener Bockstein is one of the Saar region's most legendary steep-slope vineyards, renowned for its gravelly Devonian slate soils and a distinct microclimate that yields wines of extraordinary tension. Van Volxem's Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese captures this dramatic terroir beautifully. The name 'Bockstein' itself is steeped in local history, historically associated with the wild goats that once roamed these precipitous, sun-drenched crags. In the cellar, the estate employs traditional, minimalist winemaking, allowing spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts in large, neutral oak fuder casks. The resulting Spätlese is a masterclass in balance, marrying the natural, luscious sweetness of late-harvested fruit with the Saar's trademark electric, mineral-driven acidity, resulting in a wine of profound depth, smoky complexity, and immense longevity.
🍾 About the Producer
Perched dramatically above the Saar River in Wiltingen, Weingut Van Volxem is one of Germany's most heralded historic wine estates. Originating as a Roman villa complex with viticulture traced back to the 3rd century, the property operated as a Jesuit monastery winery established in 1743 before being acquired post-secularization by Brussels brewer Gustav van Volxem. In late 1999, Roman Niewodniczanski acquired the estate and orchestrated an ambitious renaissance, revitalizing storied steep-slope vineyards and inaugurating a state-of-the-art gravity-fed winery atop the Wiltinger Schlossberg. Managing approximately 85 hectares on Devonian slate across top-tier VDP.Grosse Lage sites—such as Scharzhofberger, Wiltinger Gottesfuß, Volz, and Ockfener Bockstein—the estate works predominantly with old, ungrafted Riesling vines. Practicing sustainable, non-interventional viticulture, cellar master Dominik Völk champions spontaneous wild-yeast fermentations and extended aging in neutral oak and stainless steel. Van Volxem produces intensely mineral, low-alcohol, dry-leaning Rieslings and refined sparkling Sekts that revive the aristocratic, turn-of-the-century prestige of traditional Saar wines.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling