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The Trarbacher Hühnerberg is a historically renowned vineyard of Traben-Trarbach. On the Mosel vineyard classification map of 1897, it was placed in the highest category. Located slightly away from the Mosel River in the Kautenbach valley, this extremely steep and strongly terraced vineyard gradually fell into obscurity.
Because of its immense potential, we began painstakingly restoring and recultivating the site piece by piece at the beginning of the new millennium. Today it produces extraordinary wines with floral notes, distinctive minerality, and fascinating fruit expression. Reclaiming this great vineyard was a considerable challenge for us — but ultimately a tremendous reward.
The reasons why this legendary Mosel vineyard was once abandoned were obvious. First, there is the extreme steepness, making cultivation very labor-intensive. Secondly, the Hühnerberg produces very low yields.
Yet what once made the vineyard unpopular suits our philosophy perfectly. We gladly accept the demanding work the Hühnerberg requires, and the low yields are exactly what we seek in order to produce great wines of the highest quality.
Our vineyards in the Kröver Paradies lie between 110 and 145 meters above sea level and consist of extremely rocky and difficult-to-cultivate steep slopes. Although the exposure is mainly west-facing, the area known locally as the “Hähl” receives intense solar radiation.
The vines we cultivate in the Paradies are between 35 and 110 years old and hold tremendous potential.
The wines are characterized by great finesse. Their minerality — and therefore the slate — is clearly perceptible. Young wines often show a pleasant neutrality that allows the vibrant acidity to shine. With age, dry wines develop a creamy, harmonious acidity, powerful structure, and delicate cassis notes.
Fruit-sweet wines from this vineyard are highly ageworthy, maintaining freshness and fruit expression for many years.
The soils in our part of the Paradies are quite rare. They consist mainly of blue Devonian slate and red slate formations. The skeletal content of the soil is extremely high, with very little fine earth.
Although the soil is very light, it is unusually deep, which is uncommon for soils of this type.
Despite receiving less total sunlight than a south-facing vineyard, the intensity of solar radiation is extremely strong. This is due to the proximity of the Mosel River, whose water surface reflects sunlight onto the vineyard slopes in the afternoon and evening.
On sunny days in spring and summer, heat shimmer is a common sight. For this reason, we work in this vineyard primarily during the cool morning hours, as working on these steep slopes in the afternoon sun would be dangerous.
Our vineyard in the Kröver Kirchlay faces south and features beautiful clay- and slate-rich soils at around 140 meters above sea level. Although planted only in 2008, it already produces excellent noble sweet wines.
These wines impress with lively freshness and sparkling energy. The well-weathered slate soils provide depth, fruit expression, and a light yet vibrant character, making Kirchlay wines particularly exciting and distinctive.
