VDP.WEINGUT
JAKOB JUNG

VDP: What is so special about your winery?

Alexander Johannes Jung: We have a cheese maturation warehouse in our nearly 300-year-old vaulted cellar ;-).

VDP: What is your winery philosophy?

Alexander Johannes Jung: We are unpretentious and authentic. Our wines offer complexity in the glass without being tiresome. They are easily accessible, but never banal. Like a good deck of cards, you learn it quickly and then it won’t let you go.

VDP: For what wine style do you strive?

Alexander Johannes Jung: First and foremost, we stand for typical Rheingau Rieslings with well-integrated, fine acidity. Our Rieslings are light, racy and playful. They impress with a broad spectrum of aromas and precision.

VDP: Which of your wines would you recommend to someone who does not yet know your winery– as an introduction, so to speak?

Alexander Johannes Jung: Erbach Riesling, dry VDP.ORTSWEIN. Origin already plays a decisive role with this wine. All grapes grow in Erbach sites and yield a playful, multi-layered Riesling with excellent minerality. A symbiosis of lightness and racy Riesling fruit. As homage to our homeland, the winged Erbacher lion, the heraldic animal of the village, adorns the label of the VDP.ORTSWEIN.

VDP: Of which wine are you particularly proud?

Alexander Johannes Jung: VDP.GROSSE LAGE^® SIEGELSBERG Riesling GG. The Siegelsberg vineyard offers a marvellous view over the Rhine River and Reinhartshausen Castle. The site is characterised by slate soils. Here clear, salty wines with length and the unmistakable, ripe Siegelsberg acidity are produced.

VDP: Why did you become a vintner?

Alexander Johannes Jung: I caught the virus from my father, who had to take over our winery at the age of 18 after my grandfather died so early. My brother and I were already on the tractor and running around in the cellar as little boys.

VDP: Do you have role models?

Alexander Johannes Jung: During my apprentice phase, there were two people. One was, of course, my father, from whom I was able to learn the winemaking trade from scratch. The other was Karl-Heinz Roth, my father’s former mentor at the Schloss Reinhartshausen winery. In recent years my role models have included the outstanding Rheingau winegrowers Johannes Leitz, Andreas Spreitzer and Gunter Künstler.

VDP: What are your next goals?

Alexander Johannes Jung: To keep our winery on stable footing for the next few years so that the next generation has the opportunity to continue the legacy, if they so wish!

VDP: Do you hold on to traditions, if yes: to which?

Alexander Johannes Jung: The vinification of our wines is very traditional. We believe that long contact with the lees gives the wines stability and balance.