The winery is located in the municipality of Monzingen in the German
Nahe wine region. Already J. Wolfgang von
Goethe (1749-1832) mentioned the excellent "Monzingen wine" in his wine notes. The Emrich family had been growing wine on the Nahe since the middle of the 18th century. The estate was originally run as a mixed operation (agriculture, livestock farming, viticulture). From the mid-1960s Wilhelm Schönleber (a native of Swabia) and later his son Werner Schönleber restructured the business into a pure winery. During this time, the vineyard area grew from about two to ten hectares. Today the winery is managed by Werner and Frank Schönleber. The three internal principles of the house regarding the wines are 1. Drinking pleasure; 2. honest, authentic,
typical of its origin; 3. site wines with distinctive character.
The vineyards cover more than 19 hectares, 85% of which are planted with Riesling, the rest with Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, as well as some Müller-Thurgau. The best areas are in the individual sites
Frühlingsplätzchen and
Halenberg, as well as the
cadastral site Auf der Ley (Monzingen). Over the last 40 years, great effort has been put into the preservation and recultivation of the steep plots. During cultivation, attention is paid to the harmony between the vines and the
water and
nutrient supply. Appropriate
foliage care ensures good aeration of the foliage wall and healthy vines, which also makes a later harvest possible. If necessary, self-produced
compost is used as fertiliser
After selective harvesting and gentle grape processing, slow, controlled fermentation takes place. During the ageing process,
non-invasive rules are followed to ensure that as little influence as possible is exerted on the wines' own development. Since 1997, only Rieslings from the best plots of land with site names have been marketed. Today, these are classified as Großes Lage according to the
VDP classification model. The winery is a member of the
VDP (Verband deutscher Prädikatsweingüter).
