Early Christmas
Christmas has arrived in Nahe a couple of days earlier than elsewhere. - The Boxing Day was today for us anyway. With -10 C°, the night was finally cold enough, and this morning, we were able to harvest beautiful deep-frozen grapes at dawn in Halenberg. The fine liquid of enormous density - almost a syrup - seems extremely promising to us.
[12.21.2004]

Harvest with good results
After three weeks of hard but satisfying work, the harvest season came to an end. Another year of excellent quality, whereas, in comparison with 2003 - an exceptional year in many ways, 2004 is likely to be a "classical" vintage. Most probably pretty much similar to the top vintage 2002. We are expecting this year's wines to have massive body and yet to remain truly elegant - let us look forward to a great surprise...
[11.05.2004]

Interim report II
At the end of July, we were praying for rain, and at the end of August for sunshine. Fortunately, both wishes have been fulfilled. Since the 1st of September, the sun has been shining almost every day, and the grapes appreciate it. Ever since, the ripening process is so rapid that we have already reached at least the stage of ripening, in which the grapes were at this time of 1999, 2001 or 2002. - Good prospects for another top vintage..
[09.20.2004]

Interim report from our vineyards
The weather has been very friendly to our grapes in the last few weeks. The long-awaited rain put an end to the extremely dry period for the time being. The grapes in the current stage of development, a little further than the average year, and the vines in perfectly good health give us great hope.
[08.04.2004]

Attracting more and more interests from abroad
Our fan community is growing - not only in Germany, but also in the international wine market. In 14 countries worldwide, people are appreciating our Riesling wines from the steep slopes of Monzingen. Some of our top wines will be available also in Spanish star restaurants shortly.
[07.31.2004]

Top markings for the 2001 Halenberg Auslese trocken
During the wine fair Vievinum in Vienna, an international jury of distinguished specialists gathered for a tasting to compare Austrian and international "great dry Riesling wines". 48 top wines were blind tasted, the half of which being Austrian wines, and assessed. The results: both first and second place went to German wines. 2002 Jesuitengarten from J.L. Wolf won the first place, closely followed by our 2001 Halenberg Auslese trocken. The highest ranking for an Austrian wine was the third place, which went to one of the most well-known wineries in Wachau, Weingt Prager. The best marked wines came either from Austria or Germany.
[06.12.2004]

Fresh asparagus coming up
Almost at the same time as our 2003 vintage went on sale, now you can buy this year's first asparagus at the market. So, we had some fresh asparagus with sauce hollandaise for lunch today. With a matching wine of course! - We recommend the 2002 Halenberg Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken, which has a wonderful minerality and almost creamy character - a nearly perfect combination.
[04.24.2004]

Vintage 2003 on sale now
Thank you for waiting! The vintage 2003 went on sale today. See our wine list for details..
[04.23.2004]

Excellent marks for the vintage 2002 given by the US-magazines
Following the extraordinary markings for the vintage 2001, Robert Parker's "Wine Advocate" and the "Wine Spectator" published their ratings for the German wines of the vintage 2002. Again, they turned out to be very high. The highest marks amongst the Schönleber's Rieslings were given to our Halenberg Eiswein in both of the magazines - "Wine Spectator" with 96 points and Parker gave his assessment of 96+.
[03.25.2004]

01.22.2004 - Vintage 2003 - interim report
Even before the first grape was picked, people were talking about "sensational must weight" or "the best vintage of the century", while on the other hand pessimistic voices kept expressing their concern about the lack of acidity, the point being that the lack of acidity would result in missing elegance and short life of the wine.
However, more and more winemakers have begun to realize that most probably this will not be the case. Inquiries have been made and it came out that even in the years with extremely poor acidity great wines with long life were produced.
Also in our wine cellar, the hope is growing as the concerns are gradually vanishing. As the first Riesling wines start to clear, it is almost certain that some of them will turn out to be truly excellent. They are fruity and elegant showing a lot of body and long-lasting taste. Lacking acidity? By no means! The acid is perfectly integrated so that the wines will be ready to taste and enjoy in an early stage. None of them is insipid, let alone sticky-sweet. Even the fruity and dessert wines are impeccable.
Those who already gathered in most of their Rieslings in early October in the regions such as Nahe managed to obtain a good must weight, but little flavour. Those who could wait longer without panicking about lack of acidity will once again be the winners in the end - even with lower acidity-levels.
After all, what we winemakers aim to create is neither alcohol nor acid, but simply the taste!
[01.22.2004]