Jochen Dreissigacker

9/25/15 -

Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us;
    Let us journey to a lovely land I know.
There's a whisper on the night-wind, there's a star agleam to guide us,
    And the vines are calling, calling . . . let us go.  – in admiration of Robert Service

In 2001, Jochen Dreissigacker heard the whisper from his family’s vines in Rhenhessen’s hamlet of Bechtheim and followed the gleam to grow some of Germany’s finest dry Riesling. First, however, the doubts of others had to be faced and overcome.

His neighbors couldn’t understand why he would exchange his family’s parcel of young, high-yielding Dornfelder vines for a plot of old-vine Riesling in Bechtheim’s Geyersberg vineyard (pictured below).

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 Other growers looked on skeptically, as Jochen (pictured below, right) and his brother Christian (pictured below, left) ended the use of all conventional vineyard treatments and began working the soil – tripling their hours between the rows.

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Even his father had moments of doubt, as the Dreissigackers lost 70% of their traditional customers when their style of wines changed from off-dry and fruity to ultra-dry and mineral-driven.

The dreams of most growers would have died after that first challenging year, but Jochen had known hardship before his life between the vines. During his last days at university, he suffered a thigh fracture, but still managed to ace his finals from his hospital bed.

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Today, Jochen meticulously works 14 hectares of organically certified vineyards around the villages of Becthheim, Westhofen, and Monzernheim (shown above). Strict pruning, canopy management, and highly selective harvesting ensure staggeringly low yields (often 15hl/ha) and grapes that reach the cellar free from breakage and early fermentations.  Some of his top sites include Hasensprung (north-west of Bechtheim), Geyersburg (north-east of Bechtheim), and Kirchspiel (north of Westhofen). Also, it should be noted that Jochen holds parcels in the top sites of Aulerde (north of Westhofen) and Morstein (south-west of Monzernheim).

In greater detail, the loess, loam, and clay subsoils of Hasensprung render powerfully broad, dry Rieslings, which benefit from time in the glass. While the crushed marl and loess of Geyersberg offer fantastically high-toned and lacey Rieslings that are electric on the palate. Finally, Kirchspiel is a pure limestone subsoil vineyard that can render wines that chase after the very heart heart of great dry Riesling. Under Jochen’s guidance, the 2013 Kirchspiel shows an ethereally wrought concentration that culminates in one of the longest and most beautiful finishes of any wine on our shelves.

Jochen’s wines speak to what focus and commitment to vines can gift in the glass. We’re delighted to offer a wide range of his most magical dry Rieslings.

-David Salinas

**** Please join us at the shop today, 9/25, from 5-7pm for a full tasting of Jochen's Rieslings with an epilogue tasting of Leitz's 2013 Kaisersteinfels "Terrassen" poured from a magnum!

****Please join us on Monday, 9/28, from 5-7pm for a special tasting of 8 back-vintage Austrian wines from top growers (Knoll, Alzinger, Prager, Bründlmayer, and more)