VDP.ESTATE
REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTATT

VDP: What is special about your winery?

Dr. Karsten Weyand : Our name, our tradition – which dates back to 1349, our vines and vineyards - we are represented 11 times as VDP.Grosse Lage^® on the Mosel, Saar AND Ruwer - this is unique in the VDP, including our Monopollage JOSEPHSHÖFER, the romantic Marienlay Castle in the Ruwer Valley, where the head and heart of the winery are located, where the wines are bottled using artisan vinification, our great team. I could continue....

VDP: What is your winery philosophy?

Dr. Karsten Weyand: Great wines from great sites together with a great team....

VDP: What style of wine do you aim for? Do you have a favorite grape variety?

Dr. Karsten Weyand: Riesling in all its facets and with an enormous amount of authenticity, origin, character – simply Grand Cru! That answers both questions.

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

Dr. Karsten Weyand: That depends on the personality. If I know them, I can recommend very specifically. Otherwise, I always encourage people to get an overview and find their personal favorites from our great assortment, preferably once a year. That's a lot of fun and you always learn something new. Apart from that, a Josephshöfer Kabinett feinherb simply always fits!

VDP: Which wine are you particularly proud of?

Dr. Karsten Weyand: My first Riesling from 1999, which I grew completely on my own and vinified in old barrels: a wonderfully light Mosel late harvest that is still incredibly fresh and easy to drink today, as well as a true animation artist, as a well-known wine journalist described it at the time.

VDP: Why did you become a winemaker?

Dr. Karsten Weyand: Because my father was a winemaker, because his father was a winemaker! After school, I briefly vacillated between winemaker and forester. In the end, I decided on winemaking because making wine is so wonderfully creative and versatile, requiring passion to make the wine very good. Winemaking involves a lot of nature and a special agricultural discipline, namely viticulture, furthermore the refinement of the grapes to the final wine. This is great and usually completely different in today's world based on the division of labor. Wine is a means of enjoyment and a cultural asset; you have contact with people who, like me, are connoisseurs and value wine and the craftsmanship behind it.

VDP: Do you have any role models?

Dr. Karsten Weyand: I have many role models from very different areas and disciplines. Mrs. Annegret Reh-Gartner is one of them. As the owner, she led the winery for many, many years with a great deal of foresight and very great success. She has made it what it is today: a top VDP winery. Without a doubt, one of my mentors is Prof. Dr. Hans Reiner Schultz. I did my doctorate under him.

VDP: How do you combine tradition and innovation?

Dr. Karsten Weyand: I see absolutely no contradiction in the combination of tradition and innovation. One does not exclude the other. The question could imply exactly that. However, the opposite is the case: rediscovered tradition is often highly innovative and, from experience, produces the best results in terms of quality. This is exactly what we always want to achieve, even if this is brought to life with modern ideas and possibilities. Our centuries-old as well as the more recent history of the Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt winery is tradition per se, which we neither can nor want to throw overboard. We are and will remain artisan winemakers anyway.

VDP: Was ist das Besondere an Ihrem Weingut?

Dr. Karsten Weyand: Unser Name, unsere Tradition – diese reicht urkundlich zurück bis ins Jahr 1349, unsere Reben und Weinberge - wir sind gleich 15-mal mit diesen als VDP.GROSE LAGE^® vertreten und zwar an Mosel, Saar UND Ruwer - das ist einmalig im VDP, darunter unsere Monopollage JOSEPHSHÖFER, das romantische Schloss Marienlay im Ruwertal, wo sich Kopf und Herz des Weingutes befinden, wo die Weine handwerklich vinifiziert auf Flaschen gefüllt werden, unser tolles Team. Ich könnte fortfahren….