VDP.ESTATE
TONI JOST

VDP: What is special about your winery?

Cecilia Jost: Our winery is located on both sides of the Rhine, in the Middle Rhine Valley as well as in the Rheingau. In Bacharach on the Middle Rhine we have been growing our Rieslings since 1831. Here, seven generations of my family have laid the foundation for the fact that the Bacharacher Hahn with the VDP.Große Lage^® IM HAHN is our monopoly today. The Rheingau vineyards around Walluf with the two VDP.Große Lage^® WALKENBERG & RÖDCHEN came into the estate in the 1950s through my grandmother's inheritance. Nowhere else can you experience so directly what connects and differentiates the two regions on the Rhine.

VDP: What is your winery philosophy?

Cecilia Jost: Great wines are not made in the cellar - they grow in the vineyard.

VDP: What wine style do you strive for? Do you have a favourite grape variety?

Cecilia Jost: Our focus is clearly on Riesling! No other grape variety shows even the smallest difference in the soil so clearly. Riesling reacts extremely sensitive to the smallest changes in the soil and microclimate the vineyard exhibits. Working out these differences and making them tasteable in the glass is my great passion.

VDP: Which of your wines would you recommend to someone who doesn't yet know your winery - as an introduction, so to speak?

Cecilia Jost: The easiest way to get to know us is through our TONI JOST line: our TONI JOST Riesling trocken shows all facets of the Middle Rhine Riesling and brings together the steep vineyards and the slate in an uncomplicated way. The TONI JOST Pinot Blanc is the uncomplicated food companion with its charming, creamy character. Despite all Pinot Blanc attributes, in its juiciness and elegance you can taste that it comes from a Riesling winery. The TONI JOST Pinot Noir brings the power and spice of the Rheingau into the bottle and shows how harmoniously the Middle Rhine and Rheingau go together.

VDP: Which wine are you particulary proud of?

Cecilia Jost: The Riesling from our monopoly Bacharacher Hahn shows me every year anew what is possible on the Middle Rhine: the blue Devonian slate in the subsoil brings spice and finesse to the wine, the immediate proximity to the Rhine gives the wine fruit and expression. Combining all this every year with the elegance of Riesling is an incredible joy.

VDP: Why did you become a vintner? When did the epiphany come?

Cecilia Jost: Actually, it was always clear to me that I wanted to do something in and with nature. Being outside, feeling and experiencing the earth, the seasons and the weather, all this has fascinated me since my earliest days. In viticulture, the entire production cycle is in the hands of the winemaker. Starting with the planting of the young vines, through the care of the vineyard over decades and the maturation in the cellar, to contact with customers and wine lovers all over the world. I am convinced: creativity and craftsmanship can best be combined in viticulture.

VDP: Who is your role model or mentor?

Cecilia Jost: My father. He gave me a lot to take with me through his striving for wine and his meticulousness. So I was already able to cultivate my own vineyards and produce my own wines during my studies. Nevertheless, he encouraged me to work outside Middle Rhine and Rheingau. Today I know you can only really come home if you have also seen the world. I am very grateful for these insights and the constant support.

VDP: How do you combine tradition and innovation? Do you hold on to traditions, and if so, which ones?

Cecilia Jost: Our cultural landscape on the Middle Rhine is peppered with tradition: the Rhine, the castles on the rocky crests and the vineyards on the steep slopes. Traditional steep-slope viticulture with the manual methods can only be preserved with innovations for the great challenge of our time, climate change. That is why we have been breaking new ground for years regarding our water management in the vineyard, the greening of the vineyards and the biodiversity of the vineyards. We are convinced that only by continuous questioning and careful adaption we can preserve our tradition.

VDP: Why else should people visit your winery?

Cecilia Jost: The entire Middle Rhine Valley invites you to hike and linger. It is no coincidence that steep-slope viticulture on the Middle Rhine was an important factor for UNSECO when awarding it the UNSECO World Heritage designation. Those who want to feel this, can hike through the vineyards on the Rheinsteig or Rheinburgen hiking trails and experience nature and the work of the winegrower up close.