More about Vollenweider

Farming old vines on the steep slopes of the Middle Mosel is hard work. And it doesn't pay well. With German wine prices staying so stubbornly low, we shouldn't be surprised that so many vineyard-owning families in earlier generations simply stopped working.

So, what motivates the growers who work so hard on such crazy sites, if not money? Sheer passion.

A small crop of vintners has come along, a new generation that's very interested in the old vines left fallow by their predecessors. Their interest, of course, is not from the point of view of agri-business, but something far more soulful. They feel a connection to the land and its history. They love Riesling, and they are in the middle of the greatest Riesling terroir on earth. They have very special land with very special old vines and they desperately want to see what kind of wine it can make.

The tragic passing of Daniel Vollenweider in the summer of 2022 left a hole in the Mosel wine community. Daniel was a beloved figure who produced a collection of glorious, terroir-transparent wines that helped define the style of contemporary Mosel Riesling.

Thankfully, Daniel laid out careful plans for the future of his eponymous estate, preparing his protégé, Moritz Hoffmann, to lead the winery into its next phase. Now in his third solo vintage, Moritz has truly come into his own as one of the Mosel’s top growers, bringing the estate to stunning new heights.

The domaine is rich in prime terroir, with ancient, un-grafted vines on the ultra-steep grand cru Wolfer Goldgrube. Here, Moritz crafts tiny quantities of wine with an almost maniacal attention to detail. All vineyard work is performed by hand (of course). The fruit is pressed in an old-school vertical basket press, fermented naturally, and aged in either stainless steel or large, neutral oak barrels. The wines are crystalline and pure, with gorgeous aromatics, incisive acidity, and unending length.