Louis Guntrum, Oppenheimer Sacktrager Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese

About Louis Guntrum

Louis Guntrum was established in 1648, and since 2003 has been owned and operated by Louis Konstantin Guntrum, who is the 11th generation of the Guntrum family to make wine. The levels of sweetness: Trocken: Dry; Halbtrocken: Slightly less dry; Kabinett: Fruity but still not showing sweetness; Spatlese: Very fruity, still dry enough to drink with food; Auslese: Richly fruity, beginning to show more residual sugar. Beautiful alone or with select food; Beerenauslese: Rich with concentrated residual sugar; dessert wine with some botrytis; Eiswein: Eiswein is picked when the grapes are frozen in deep winter; varies in degree of sweetness; Trockenbeerenauslese: The most intensely concentrated: sweet, rich, botrytis dessert wine, almost syrupy in texture. Terroir: Rheinhessen is the ultimate cool climate with approximately 1,800 hours of sunshine per year. The growing season typically runs from late May until October. Riesling grapes require 100 days of ripening between blossoming and harvest. Typically, harvest begins in early October and can last as long as early November extending into late January if the conditions are right for Eiswein. Annual rainfall averages 500mm (20 inches). A range of soil types found in the vineyards includes Niersteiner (red slate), Oppenheimer Sacktrager (chalky loam), Niersteiner Bergkirche (loam), Niersteiner Rehbach (red slate), Oppenheimer Herrenberg (loam), Hipping Grosses Gewachs (red slate). Annual Production: 8,000 cases from estate fruit; 60,000 cases from purchased fruit. Varieties Cultivated: Riesling, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Sp tburgunder (Pinot Noir), Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris), Silvaner, Gew rztraminer