Georg Breuer, Riesling 'Salz der Erde' 2022

The estate was founded in 1880 by Peter Breuer, a partner of the venerable German wine shipping firm Scholl & Hillebrand. It was passed on to Peter’s son Georg and then to grandsons Bernhard and Heinrich in 1978, who sold the shipping firm and carefully expanded the estate to its present 33 hectares. They own some of the steepest, most well-drained vineyards of the Rheingau communes of Rüdesheim, Rauenthal and Lorch. Bernhard was considered an authority on Germany’s wine regions and largely credited with restoring Riesling’s respectability in world markets, and he worked tirelessly in defence of German viticultural integrity. “I wish to produce wines that make the specific characteristics of their origin visible” was his motto. His daughter Theresa took over at the age of 18 when Bernhard passed away in 2004, and has worked tirelessly to uphold her father’s ideals. She decided to farm the family vineyards organically, and keeps yields carefully restricted to ensure grapes with plenty of concentration and extract, in order to balance out their bracing levels of acidity. Fermentation takes place in old oak foudres using wild yeast and the wines are then aged on their lees for about a year.