Schonfels Riesling GG
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2040
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
roasted pork belly, pan-seared scallops, spicy Thai curry
✨ Technical Specifications
The Schonfels vineyard is one of the Saar's most dramatic and historic sites, characterized by an incredibly steep, south-facing cliff of weathered Devonian slate and quartz. Saved from obscurity by Roman Niewodniczanski, this grand cru (Grosse Lage) site is home to ancient, ungrafted Riesling vines that yield tiny quantities of highly concentrated fruit. The wine is fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts and aged in traditional large oak fuder casks. The resulting Grosses Gewaechs is a masterpiece of tension, balancing a wild, smoky minerality and herbal complexity with a dense, textured core of stone fruit and the Saar's signature electric acidity. It represents a profound tribute to the region's pre-industrial winemaking heritage.
🍾 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
🍷 ABV
12-12.5%