The winery is located in the municipality of Alzey-Weinheim ( Wonnegau area) in the German wine-growing region of Rheinhessen in the middle of the Heiliger Blutberg monopollage (3 ha). The villa Heiligenblut was built in 1826. According to legend, Christian monks were executed on the site in 454 AD by the Hun king Attila. In memory of this, Saint Boniface had a chapel built and the first vines planted in 746 AD. The winery, which has been in existence since 1924, is run by the fourth generation of the family, the brothers Christian (cellar master) and Martin Hannemann. According to the company philosophy, authentic wines are produced according to sustainable criteria. The label (see picture) was reissued based on the oldest known bottled wine label of the winery from 1842.
The vineyards cover 16 hectares of vines, some of them very old, in the single vineyard sites Rotenfels and Sonnenberg (Heimersheim), Kapellenberg (Weinheim) and Heiliger Blutberg im Monopol (Alzey-Weinheim). The tribunal judge from Mainz, Joseph Emele (1796-1847), recognised the great potential of the Heiliger Blutberg early on and had terraces built from 1826 onwards, which were supported by quarry stone walls, planted Pinot Noir and Traminer in addition to Riesling and built the Villa Heiligenblut in the middle of the two vineyard wings with its rock cellar below. The site is interspersed with melaphyre (dark volcanic rock) and is particularly well suited to the deep-rooted Riesling and Silvaner vines, which are over 70 years old. They are planted with the white wine varieties Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Silvaner, Chardonnay, Scheurebe, Müller-Thurgau and Kerner, as well as the red wine variety Pinot Noir.
The product range is divided into the lines estate wine (basic wines), local wine (wines typical of the terroir ) and single vineyard (from the best parcels of outstanding sites with the strictest selection and reduced yields ). Depending on the type of wine, the wines are matured in traditional large wooden barrels(Stück), in stainless steel tanks or in barrique barrels (red wine). The white wines are aged for a long time on the fine lees. They are mostly bottled without filtration and without fining with low sulphurisation. A bottle-fermented sparkling wine(Blanc de blancs, Brut Nature Zero = without shipping dosage) and a Pét Nat (bottle-fermented semi-sparkling wine) are also produced. The winery is a member of the Maxime Herkunft Rheinhessen winegrowers' association.
