Perched dramatically above the Nahe River in the volcanic north of the region, Gut Hermannsberg is one of Germany’s most historically significant and terroir-expressive wine estates. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the disintegration of the Confederation of the Rhine, the Nahe region was split between the Prussian and Bavarian kingdoms, and the demarcation line between the two German states was drawn straight through the land that eventually became this winery. Initially a Prussian copper mine (hence “Kopfergrube”), once the copper ran out in 1902, this became the Royal Prussian Domaine, or the “Staatlicher Weinbaudomäne Niederhausen-Schlossböckelheim”. The winery was established with a singular mission: to produce Germany’s finest dry Rieslings. Over a century later, that vision continues to burn brightly, as Gut Hermannsberg leads a renaissance in site-specific, age-worthy Riesling from some of the steepest and most revered vineyards in the Nahe Valley.

One of the benefits of state ownership was that while other estates were undergoing the forced and misguided government Flurbereinigung soil restructuring programme, Gut Hermannsberg managed to (ironically) escape with most of its vineyard area intact. Today this estate boasts an exceptional collection of terroirs, encompassing seven vineyards, all of which are classified as VDP Grosse Lage® – Germany’s highest designation for single-vineyard quality. These 7 terroirs are Kupfergrube (on the site of the abandoned copper mine at Schlossböckelheim), Felsenberg, Steinberg, Bastei, Rotenberg, Rossel, and of course their monopole of Hermannsberg. (Fun fact - Gut Hermannsberg own 12 out of the 15 hectares of Kupfergrube, some of which was traded advantageously from Donnhoff, who were after Gut’s bits of Hermannshöhle, as Donnhoff wanted a monopoly of the site).

Benefiting from a rich abundance of red sandstone soils and variegated slates, the Nahe is also distinguished by a gigantic mass of volcanic rhyolite in the 1000ft high Rotenfels, born from a volcanic eruption 270 million years ago, and cut from centuries of weathering and erosion by the Nahe river. Each of Gut’s terroirs is a geological wonder, featuring ancient volcanic soils, porphyry, loess, and weathered slate. The combination and variety of elevation, exposure, and dramatic mineral composition yields Rieslings of electrifying acidity, profound depth, and unmistakable sapidity.