This traditional winery is located in the municipality of Eltville-Erbach in the German wine-growing region of Rheingau. The estate is located at the "Draiser Hof", which was built in 1141 by monks of the Cistercian Order of the Eberbach Abbey as a dependency (grange) for the cultivation of vineyards and farmland in Eltville and Erbach. The vineyard and the associated land were acquired by the family of the Barons zu Knyphausen in 1818. Today, Arne Wilken is responsible as the farm manager and cellar master.
The vineyards cover ten hectares of vineyards in the Hohenrain, Marcobrunn, Michelmark, Steinmorgen (Erbach), Sandgrub (Kiedrich) and Rheinberg (Eltville) vineyards. They are planted with the varieties Riesling (75%) and Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) as well as a "Rheingauer Gemischter Satz" with the autochthonous, partly rare varieties Elbling, Gewürztraminer, Silvaner, Orléans (variety Gelber Orléans), Weißer Heunisch (Gouais Blanc) and Roter Riesling (the winery is one of the pioneers of the rare variety).
The wines are divided according to the VDP classification. These are estate wines and local wines as well as Erste Lagen and Grosse Lagen, which are produced from the lowest yields of a maximum of 50 hl/ha after selective hand harvesting. The wines produced according to the guidelines of the Charta Rheingau represent the second growth from these classified sites. In years with suitable weather conditions, noble sweet wines ranging from Auslese to Eiswein are also pressed from grapes harvested up to three times by hand selection.
After a slow, temperature-controlled fermentation, the wines mature in steel tanks, wooden barrels of different sizes and in the bottle, depending on the type, before they are marketed the following year. Around 60,000 bottles of wine are produced annually. The winery is a founding member of the Charta Rheingau association and has been a member of the VDP (Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates) since 1972.
