Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Beerenauslese
⏳ Drinking Window
2025 - 2055
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roquefort or aged Stilton blue cheese, classic apricot tarte tatin, duck liver torchon with brioche
✨ Technical Specifications
Sculpted by the natural amphitheater of the Westhofener Kirchspiel facing the Rhine, this rare noble-sweet bottling emerges from intensely botrytized Riesling berries hand-selected across limestone and clay-marl colluvium. The topography shields the vines from chilly westerly winds while funneling morning river mists that encourage precise noble rot alongside afternoon drying breezes. Biodynamically farmed, the shriveled, concentrated fruit undergoes extended, gentle pressing to extract thick, golden must. Spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts takes place at low temperatures in neutral vessels, halting naturally to leave substantial residual sweetness counterbalanced by the parcel's intense subterranean limestone acidity.
🍾 About the Producer
With ancestral roots in Westhofen documented to 1663, Weingut Wittmann stands as a monumental force in the modern renaissance of Rheinhessen viticulture. Situated in the rolling Wonnegau district, the estate encompasses prestigious VDP Grosse Lage terroirs including Morstein, Kirchspiel, Brunnenhäuschen, and Aulerde. These steep, sun-drenched parcels feature deeply layered upper limestone and clay-marl colluvium over fractured subterranean limestone bedrock, fostering remarkable minerality and tension. Guided by cellarmaster Philipp Wittmann and his wife Eva Clüsserath, alongside his pioneering parents Günter and Elisabeth, the estate spearheaded organic cultivation in 1990 before achieving full Demeter biodynamic certification in 2004. In their vaulted 1829 cellar, hand-harvested fruit undergoes gentle pressing and spontaneous native-yeast fermentation in traditional large neutral oak Stück and Doppelstück casks. Renowned for chiseled, dry Rieslings and textural Burgundian varieties, Wittmann produces cellar-worthy benchmarks defined by intense saline depth, purity of fruit, and aristocratic limestone energy.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling
🍷 ABV
7.5% - 9.0%