about Battenfeld Spanier, H.O., Carolin & the Rheinhessen
Battenfield-Spanier is co-owned by Carolin Spanier-Gillot and her husband H.O. Spanier.
They are located in the Rheinhessen - in northern Germany close to the Rheingau. The Rheinhessen is the largest region in Germany and has over 24,000 hectares (65,000+ acres) and there are tons of different terroirs; historically, it has been more notorious for making wine that is more about quantity than quality.
But that is changing and Carolin & H.O. are leading the charge:
from H.O.:
"When I founded my wine estate at the age of 20, restoring soil vitality was one of my most important goals.
The grape vine is an interpreter of the relationship between light and earth. I thought that I could do little to influence light processes, therefore I focused on the soil. The conversion of my vineyards in 1993 to ecological cultivation represented a natural and logical step. To my mind, wine should communicate a direct impression of the soil characteristics of the southern Wonnegau: marled chalk and chalk pebbles, all the way to solid limestone. One should be able to experience and taste the rock.
Riesling is my vision. In the Wonnegau, no grape is able to translate light and soil into wine as precisely or succulently. I judge Riesling’s superficial fruitiness to be only a pretense. It is merely an intermediate phase, before the metamorphosis to a true stone wine begins. In reality, a natural Riesling wine is less fruit, and rather much more herbs, spices, saltiness, and flint. That’s why my primary slogan is LIQUID EARTH."
a little more info:
The three main departments are Bingen, Nierstein and the rest is called the Wonnegau (the southern most part of the the Rheinhessen.
Technically, trocken is German for dry.
A wine labeled "trocken" must meet the following requirements: residual sugar may not exceed 4 grams per liter (0.4 percent), but it may go up to 9 grams per liter (0.9 percent) as long as the total acidity (see acids) is within 2 grams per liter of the residual sugar.
For example, if residual sugar is 9 grams, then total acidity must be at least 7; if total acidity is only 6 grams, then the residual sugar can't exceed 8 grams.
