Rhine & Nahe

There’s something simply unique about this place. The Binger Rochusberg, home to our vineyards, lies on two rivers: the Rhine and the Nahe. Of our two grand Bingen sites, the Scharlachberg looks out on the Nahe, while the Kirchberg faces the Rhine. Each forms a microclimate distinctive enough to be tasted.

Wines can hardly be more different than when two rivers intervene and exert influence in their own ways. The Nahe, which flows below the Binger Scharlachberg, delivers wines of incredible depth and complexity, whereas the Binger Kirchberg imparts lean elegance as it looks out upon the Rhine. Among the distinguishing features of the Binger Rochusberg is a massive quartzite vein that runs from Frankfurt through the Rheingau and Taunus mountains and on to the Hunsrück.

Among the distinguishing features of the Binger Rochusberg is a massive quartzite vein that runs from Frankfurt through the Rheingau and Taunus mountains and on to the Hunsrück.

WHAT MAKES OUR WINE

Shimmering in red, the Scharlachberg is hot, sunny, steep, and exposed all at once. Its quartzite calls forth a crystalline and nuanced expression in our Riesling: notes of juicy peach, apricot, mango, and Mirabelle plum as well as spicy herbs with an unbelievable length. Exceptional aroma, flavor, and finesse—from dry to nobly sweet and mineral, sunny, bursting with fruit, intense, and gripping—full of energy and power!


Große Lage Binger Kirchberg—Wind and sun in balance: this east-facing site, small with thrilling tension, is spared from extreme midday warmth. The winds of the Rhine Valley blow through its vines, which grow atop quartzite. The cool microclimate gives rise to a nuanced and elegant Riesling: vineyard peach, Mirabelle plum, passionfruit, and delicate herbs, leading into a flinty minerality and long finish.


Große Lage Binger Osterberg—Mysterious and idiosyncratic: this site brings together geological remnants from the old bed of the Nahe River, a collection of 100-year-old Riesling vines from the Mosel, and a rich portion of clayey marl under the surface. Our Osterberg Riesling is rich and full-bodied. Apple, lime, white grapefruit, herbs, and a creamy, silken texture.


Lage Binger Rosengarten—The sun lavishes Rosengarten with its warm embrace throughout the day. Ice Age river flows deposited pebbles, loam, and sand in the soil, a mix that today ensures plenty of water and nutrients for the vines. This Riesling reveals aromas of rose, gooseberry, citrus, raspberry, and peach.

by the way

Kloster Eberbach, the fabled abbey in the Rheingau, acquired the Scharlachberg in 1248. Long coveted as the steepest and most historic site in the region, it was known at that time as the “Scarlachen,” a reference to its scarlet color from iron-rich quartzite soil. Our best Rieslings grow on its finest parcel, the 1.2 ha Katharinenzins. On November 25 of each year, the feast day of Saint Katharina, the cloister called in the tributes [‘Zins’] from the peasant farmers. A look back at the Scharlachberg Riesling Katharinenzins Auslese 1900 shows just how strong a reputation the site enjoyed: it was available for sale in 1904 at the German Food & Wine Exhibition in St. Louis, USA.

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Biodynamics