| Region of production: | Nahe |
| Winery Location: | Oberhausen |
| Year Established: | 1971 |
Vineyard Holdings
30 ha total
- Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl: soil is pebbles and loam
- Kreuznacher Kahlenberg: soil is gravelly loam
- Roxheimer Höllenpfad: translated, Höllenpfad means “Hell’s Path,” in reference to its steepness and the difficulty to work it; soil is red sandstone
- Norhheimer Kircshheck: the oldest vineyards on-record in the Nahe are in this part of Norheim; soil is grey slate mixed with sandstone
- Norheimer Dellchen: 1.2 ha; soil is a mix of slate and volcanic soils like porphyry and melaphyr
- Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle: 4.2 ha; widely considered the best vineyard in the Nahe; soil is mostly grey slate with porphyry and limestone
- Oberhäuser Brücke: 1.1 ha (monopole); soil is grey slate bedrock covered with loess (this is the source of Dönnhoff’s Eiswein)
- Oberhäuser Leistenberg: 1.6 ha; soil is grey slate
- Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg: 1.9 ha; soil is volcanic porphyry
Top Wines Produced & Inaugural Vintages
- Norheimer Dellchen Riesling GG
- Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling GG
- Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Auslese Riesling Goldkapsel
- Oberhäuser Brücke Auslese Riesling Goldkapsel
- Oberhäuser Brücke Eiswein Riesling
- Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg “Felsentürmchen” Riesling GG
Average Total Production
- 150,000 bottles
Summary
Helmut Dönnhoff owns some of the most storied sites in the Nahe. Today, Helmut works the estate with his son Cornelius. From Roxheim down to Schlössbockelheim, 80% of the Dönnhoff vineyards are planted to Riesling; the other 20% are Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder. Dönnhoff joined the VDP in 1990 and, along with Emrich-Schönleber, Schäfer-Fröhlich and Weingut Diel, this is one of the Nahe’s all-star estates.
Style & Vinification Techniques
Helmut Dönnhoff believes that Riesling loves suffering and that the Nahe is a perfect place for the grape because the region is almost desert-like, with poor soil and minimal rainfall. In addition, he attributes the high acidity in his grapes to the Nahe’s great diurnal temperature shifts. According to Dönnhoff, in the Nahe „we never speak of Riesling, we just name the sites.“[1] In essence, then, he considers his wine not a „Riesling“ but a „Hermannshöhle GG,“ for example. Dönnhoff picks late, from the middle of October into late November (his Eiswein is picked in December), and grapes are always hand-harvested. Helmut allows up to 5% of botrytized grapes into his dry wines, and he does three tries during harvest. The dry wines are aged in a mixture of stainless steel and stück or doppelstück;the Eiswein and Auslese only see stainless steel. Since the 2009 vintage, sweetness levels in all of Dönnhoff’s wines have decreased, making them today more reminiscent of the wines from the early 1990s.
Producer Website: Dönnhoff
[1] Reinhardt, Stephan. The Finest Wines of Germany. University of California Press, c. 2012. Page 202.