Although there has been viniculture in our family for more than 250 years, it was only at the end of the 1960s that the actual development into a winery of the present quality began. Since then we have enlarged our vineyards from 5 to 33 acres and today more than three-quarters of this area is devoted to Riesling. The history of wine in this area has been turbulent. The steep slopes of our region once enjoyed an excellent reputation at the beginning of the 19th century. Even Goethe noted with overwhelming praise: “This time people were boasting of one of their local wines, called ‘Monzinger’. They say it runs down the throat with such ease and pleasure, that you only realise its bewildering effect too late. The temptation to taste it and to measure ourselves with it was too great to resist.”

With the ambition to revive the excellent reputation in the shortest time possible, we have particularly invested in the steep slopes, which represent the “heart” of the Monzinger single-vineyards. In the past ten years we have succeeded in tripling the vineyard-areas in the very best parts of the single-vineyard sites. This was the first of many developments to increase quality. The work paid off and enabled the Weingut Emrich-Schönleber to make significant progress. Our wines were gaining more and more attention and we were soon granted membership of the illustrious VDP - the German association for high quality wineries.
The VDP’s internal vineyard classification for the Nahe region was a confirmation of the quality of both our Monzinger single-vineyards, “Frühlingsplätzchen” and “Halenberg”. They received the listing “Große Lagen” (grand crus). The most important criteria:

Our vines grow on the rocky soils of the so-called “Waderner Schichten”. They mainly consist of various kinds of slate, quartzite and quartz. In “Halenberg” blue Devon slate is predominant, in “Frühlingsplätzchen” it is red slate.
By far the largest area consists of slopes facing south to south-west which receive an optimum of midday sun. These steep slopes have very special microclimatic conditions. The warm air from the valley rises over the slopes which are protected from chilly downdrafts at night, resulting in significant diversity in the various parts of the slopes.
The stream of hot air is at its strongest at those sites on the hillside where the first sunbeams melt the snow and where the birds of prey circle in the sky, seeming to glide effortlessly, without any gravity. In these parts of the vineyards, tending to dehydration, with their light soils the berries usually remain much smaller and, as a result, are even more aromatic. Of course under the described circumstances the quantity of the harvest is modest.

By the way the above is confirmed by the viticulturist Johan Philipp Bronner, who in 1834 wrote in his book “Viniculture in the Provinces of Rheinhessen, the Nahe Valley and the Mosel Valley”: “The meagre conditions on the Monzinger hill seem, in themselves, to be the cause of the good reputation of the wines, which are, as a result, so high in price and among the best in the Nahe region.” Late, selective handpicking combined with the gentle pressing of the grapes, as well as cool fermentation and careful treatment right from the very start in order to eliminate any negative influences, result in the unique, fine flowery, sparkling and fruity taste (so typical of the grape variety) which characterises our wines. We aim to bottle a wine which reflects the optimal potential of our vineyard, the grape variety and the climate.
If we are to believe what other people say about us, then we are already very close to achieving this goal.