Weingut Bernhard Eifel, Trittenheim, Mosel, Germany

WEINGUT BERNHARD EIFEL: A PROMINENT WINEMAKER

"Good wine has a pronounced personality, or even two!" According to Bernhard Eifel. "Good wine has a pronounced personality. Or even two" ; the starting point of Weingut Eifel. Weingut Eifel is approximately one of the oldest wineries that we Dare Wines work with. The winery was founded in 1635 and has been run by Marietta and Bernhard Eifel since 1976. In recent years, however, daughter Alexandra has also played an important role within the family business. Since then, the trio has continued with great dedication and enthusiasm the foundation that their ancestors laid for them years ago. Unfortunately, fate strikes when Bernhard is left to fend for himself; his father dies at a young age. In a short period of forty years, Bernhard has improved the winery and developed it into one of the finest and best producers of Riesling wines along the Mosel river. The ' Traditionsweingut' is situated in one of the best locations in the Mosel Valley and focuses on the production of Rieslings. This noble grape variety accounts for about 96% of the total planted grape varieties.

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THE QUEEN OF GRAPE VARIETIES

The Riesling is considered one of the most beautiful grapes in the world . Not only because of its versatile character in different regions, but even more because of its quality. Riesling ripens late, mostly , only at the end of September or beginning of October (which is quite late in the wine world) and then has a golden yellow color with some small speckles on the skin. Riesling is suitable for the production of dry, elegant. But its world fame is however due to the sweet wines that this grape variety can produce. Riesling has many characters: powerful, elegant, fruity and mineral . And never boring!

THE MOSSEL

The Mosel wine region is located in the western part of Germany, and extends between the French-Luxembourg border and the Rhine. Situated on the right bank of the Mosel River, in idyllic Trittenheim . The steep terraces planted with Riesling grapes lie in the valley between the mountain ranges of the Hunsrück on the one hand and the Eiffel on the other, which provides a perfect microclimate. This is completed by the U-turn that the Mosel makes near Trittenheim, The 'low' Apotheke and Altärchen are located here on the steep rock faces with blue slate soils, this ensures that the Riesling grapes that grow there are sometimes powerful, sometimes elegant, and sometimes also fruity. In addition, they have gold in their hands with two vineyards in Schweich ( Herrenberg & Annaberg , soils of red slate). In the cellar Bernhard and Alexandra work as naturally as possible, the must first soaks for a few hours with the skins and oxygen before fermentation takes place in steel tanks, the wines are lightly filtered and bottled with a minimum amount of sulphur. Riesling vines are often planted against the steep slopes, which is why they produce high quality wines. They are therefore also called 'Spitzenweinen'.

QUALITY TERRACES FULL OF RIESLING

Eifel has several steep terraces on which the Riesling is planted. The vineyards are located in several 'layers' (levels) and each layer has its own angle of inclination in relation to the sun, humidity (influences from the river) and ripening process. The terraces ensure that the grapes never (can) take away each other's sun, and at the same time facilitate the (manual) picking. We would like to briefly highlight a number of locations.

TRITTENHEIM PHARMACY

A world-famous location ' Trittenheimer Apotheke ', situated on the right bank of the Mosel. Without a doubt one of the top locations in the region. Very mineral Rieslings are produced here; the slate soil ensures heat retention. During the day it is stored in the ground so that it can be released during the cold nights. The deep-rooted old vines guarantee youthful, elegant Rieslings with enormous development potential every year. The name "apothecary" is probably due to "Abtsberg", a foundation of the abbey in Trier.

LONGUICHER MAXIMINER HERRENBERG

Vineyards with also perfect conditions; slope in relation to the southwest which makes beautiful ripening possible. An important difference with the Trittenheimer is the soil type. Here too mainly deep blue slate can be seen, but due to close connection with the 'Schweicher Annaberg' also a lot of red slate . The complexity of the blue slate combined with the strength of the red slate produces excellent fruity wines . The name refers to the abbeys that first provided this location with wine growing, the 'herren van Maxime'.

SWEET ANNABERG

The Schweicher Annaberg is one of the steepest locations of the Mosel. Here we still find some old plots, which are equipped with their own roots (non-grafted vines). This is rare, because most areas were devastated by phylloxera. The vines here are between 75 and 100 years old. In combination with the deep red slate soil, powerful, earthy wines are produced here. The Schweicher Annaberg faces south and is classified as a first-class location .

OUR WINES FROM EIFEL