Germany has undergone a true quality revolution in the last 15-20 years. However, German wine has always had a good reputation. Great wines have always been produced and Germany belongs to the category of old, classic wine-producing countries with a thousand-year history. Nevertheless, what has happened in recent years is almost more noteworthy than anything that has come before it. To put it bluntly! A generation of young winemakers, who have either taken over the paternal farm or started from scratch, have with great enthusiasm, innovation and courage managed to raise the general quality image to a level never seen before – inspiring the old guard to follow suit. Gone is the image of thin, sloppy wines with excessive and unnatural sweetness (they still exist, of course) and in has come a production of tight, acid-driven, terroir-driven white wines, led by Riesling and red wines with minerality, elegance and ripe fruit, led by Spätburgunder in particular. And Spätburgunder is what you associate with Deutzerhof and the Ahr. The producer
Weingut Deutzerhof in Mayschoss is a winery with a long history. Founded in 1574, the Hehle family – led by Wolfgang Hehle – manifested itself as one of Germany’s best red wine producers throughout the 1980s. In early 2000, Wolfgang Hehle took on the young winemaker Hans-Jörg Lüchau as cellar master and he has been there ever since – confirming the stability of the house and a large part of Deutzerhof’s reputation can be attributed to him. In 2019, Wolfgang Hehle’s widow wanted to sell the winery and Jürgen Doetsch stepped in. Capital was injected into the company to expand the cellar facilities and improve work in the field.
Deutzerhof makes both white wine, rosé wine and red wine. The grape varieties are Riesling, Chardonnay, Portugieser and Dornfelder – but it is the two Burgundy varieties that they are known for. Frühburgunder and Spätburgunder.
The style is minerality, elegance and finesse, with a clear terroir and grape characteristic. Deutzerhof is not afraid to let the barrel play a role, but always balanced and integrated. Another characteristic is the wines’ ability to age and develop in the bottle for many years. The great GGs (Grosses Gewächs) can easily age for 20 years or more. Deutzerhof has fields across the entire Ahr valley. From Landskrone in the eastern part near the town of Heimersheim to Eck in the extreme west near Altnahr. However, they are probably best known for their Frühburgunder and Spätburgunder from the Grosse Lage field Mönchberg, which lies like a mighty amphitheater surrounding the vineyard in Mayschoss. Deutzerhof produces between 35,000-40,000 bottles annually. The
Ahr region is one of Germany’s smallest wine regions and also the northernmost. The fact that it is so far north should speak against the production of quality red wine, but nevertheless, it is the red wine that is produced the most (85% of the area is planted with blue grape varieties) and the Ahr has always been considered the premier area for Spätburgunder.
The area’s special climate with limited rainfall, the deep gorge through which the river Ahr has meandered for thousands of years and the south-facing, terraced fields actually make the Ahr one of the warmest growing areas in Germany.
The soil types vary from loose and slate in the eastern part to slate and volcanic rock (Grauwacke) in the western part. These soil types help to give Spätburgunder from the Ahr its unique, cool, mineral and often slightly smoky character.
