WEINBAUDOMÄNE
SCHLOSS JOHANNISBERG
(VDP)

VDP: What is so special about your winery?

Stefan Doktor: We were the first Riesling winery in the world and are a monument to wine culture worldwide and a piece of German wine-growing history. We are the sole owners of the SCHLOSS JOHANNISBERG vineyard, from which all our grapes originate. It has become the epitome of German wine and synonym for German Rieslings in the world. We ‘invented’ the Spätlese and pressed the world’s first ice wine. There are many interesting stories to tell, gladly with a glass of wine during your wine tasting with us!

VDP: What is your winery philosophy?

Stefan Doktor: Creating the best Riesling with passion.

VDP: For what wine style do you strive?

Stefan Doktor: Crystal-clear Rieslings with distinct intensity. What is particularly important to us, is that all our wines exhibit their very own interpretations of the terroir.

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

Stefan Doktor: Our SCHLOSS JOHANNISBERG Riesling Rotlack Kabinett.

VDP: Of which wine are you particularly proud?

Stefan Doktor: Of each and every one!

VDP: Why did you become a wine producer?

Stefan Doktor: I am a man of pleasure. Good wine has always fascinated me. A bottle of 1995 Chateau Margaux was my guide.

VDP: What are your next goals?

Stefan Doktor: We recently built a cellar hall with the latest technology at the winery and are tackling further modernisations and expansions.

VDP: How do you combine tradition and innovation?

Stefan Doktor: This is our daily work. In the vineyard we work as naturally as possible, reduce yields and harvest selectively by hand. In the cellar, our oenologist Gerd Ritter masters the balancing act between tradition and state-of-the-art innovations. Depending on the Riesling type, the musts are fermented in stainless steel vessels or in large oak barrels.

VDP: Why should I still visit your winery?

Stefan Doktor: Schloss Johannisberg is a popular venue for large and festive celebrations, concerts, theatre dinners and galas, which offer the opportunity to take a look around the premises. Very interesting is the 900-year-old cellar vault of the underground treasure chamber, the magical Bibliotheca subterranean. It was dug 10 meters deep into the mountain and currently approximately 25,000 bottles from all great vintages since 1748, the time of Maria Theresa, rest there. And the sun shines approximately 1,700 sun hours annually on Johannisberg - that is in the climate record for the mild Rhine River region!