3/18/24 -

We introduce Schonhals, a new and exciting estate from the Rheinhessen! I had the pleasure of visiting them back in April of 2023 when I went to the VDP wine fair in Mainz and visited a couple of other nearby wineries in the Rhinehessen, Rheingau and Nahe. Eben (Lillie) had met them before at several organic/biodynamic wine fairs in France and we were keen to work with some of their wines. Little did I know how much fun we'd have and how much we'd hit it off with a shared love of music, dance and all around  conviviality (Christoph is a bass player and Hanneke a dancer; their wine labels sport a blurry picture of Hanneke twirling).

When I pulled up into the courtyard of the winery smack in the middle of their teeny town, an older gentleman was tinkering on an ancient piece of machinery. I later discovered that indeed, this was her father Eugen Schonhals who helmed the winery and converted it to organic farming decades prior, something unheard of in their region of Central Rheinhessen at the time. Although now retired, as they put it, he just can't stop working so they allow him to tinker on. Hanneke took the next step in converting to biodynamics when she took over from her father in 2018 with a new focus on developing, artisanal natural wines. Her mother begged her to marry a winemaker saying that a women couldn't handle all the work needed to run the place and that she was doomed to failure otherwise. Undeterred, she pressed on and found a willing partner in crime with Mainz native punk rocker Christoph (now husband). As Hanneke puts it: "

The wines tell of the rhythm of nature, the rhythm of manual, careful work and the melody of life in the vineyard. When working in the cellar, we rely on spontaneous fermentation, long maceration times and gentle processing in order to bring the character of each vineyard location and harvest into the bottle. In addition to Riesling and Burgundy varieties, we also cultivate a variety of new grape varieties, such as Saphira, Cabernet Blanc or Satin Noir, on almost 13 hectares of vineyards and these are particularly climate-friendly due to their tolerance to fungal diseases and open up whole new worlds of taste with exciting aroma profiles - of course GMO-free! Diversity is part of our livelihood! This applies to the variety and biodiversity in our vineyards. And the same for our social coexistence! We are for diversity and tolerance! We are against racism! Wine culture is diverse joy of life in liquid form!!!"

We hope you'll join us in welcoming the Schonals to the Chambers Universe and the US Market. I selected two Rieslings from different soil types, a skin contact, no sulphur Muller Thurgau, a PIWI white, a burgundian Pinot Noir and finally, an extra brut Riesling Sekt because everyone one needs to twirl from time to time! PROST!

-Giselle Hamburg

>>>>  VIEW THE WINES HERE <<<<<<