Rudesheimer Kirchenpfad Riesling Beerenauslese
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed 15–40 years from vintage release, though exceptional vintages can cellar beautifully for over half a century.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Blue cheese, fruit tarts, foie gras
✨ wine.spec_sheet
The Rüdesheimer Kirchenpfad, or 'church path,' is a historic vineyard slope in the Rheingau whose name evokes the ancient path locals walked to the parish church. Situated on gentle to steep south-southeast facing slopes, this site benefits from a microclimate that highly favors the development of Botrytis cinerea, or noble rot. Weingut Leitz exploits this terroir to craft their rare Beerenauslese, a sweet wine produced only in exceptional vintages. The grapes are painstakingly harvested by hand, berry by shriveled berry, selecting only those concentrated by noble rot. The resulting wine is a masterclass in balance, where the intense, honeyed sweetness of the botrytized fruit is perfectly countered by the piercing, vibrant acidity characteristic of Rheingau Riesling.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Weingut Leitz, located in the historic town of Rüdesheim am Rhein in Germany's Rheingau region, traces its winemaking heritage back to 1744. Under the visionary leadership of Johannes Leitz, who took over the family estate in 1985, the winery has earned international acclaim for its exceptional, terroir-driven Rieslings. The estate meticulously manages some of the Rheingau's most prestigious steep-slope grand cru vineyards, including Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg, Berg Rottland, and Berg Roseneck. Renowned for their remarkable purity, vibrant acidity, and deep minerality, Leitz's wines range from bone-dry expressions to luscious, noble sweet Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, alongside a pioneering range of premium non-alcoholic wines.