The winery is located in the municipality of Bockenheim (Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße area) in the German wine-growing region of Pfalz. The history of the estate dates back to the 12th century. In the 16th century, Count Emich XI of Leiningen converted the rustic castle into a chateau. After an eventful history, Heinrich Janson acquired the estate together with the fields and vineyards in 1831 and it was given its present name. Of the buildings of that time, only the foundations remain, on which the present wine cellar is located. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the winery has been run purely as a vineyard and is now in its sixth and seventh generation of management by Kurt and Annesuse Janson, supported by their children Kurt and Sarah.
The vineyards cover 50 hectares of vines in the single vineyard sites Burggarten and Klosterschaffnerei (Bockenheim) as well as Mandelpfad (Dirmstein), which they own alone. They are planted with the white wine varieties Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Scheurebe, Kerner, Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau, as well as with the red wine varieties Pinot Noir, Dornfelder, Blauer Portugieser, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyards are cultivated in an environmentally friendly, sustainable manner with defoliation of the grape zone and partial abandonment of herbicides. Particularly in the case of Riesling, there is a strong, quality-enhancing yield reduction of 4,000 hl/ha, which corresponds to an average of 50% of the harvest.
The large product range includes more than three dozen wines, which are predominantly dry and single-varietal. The white wines are matured in stainless steel tanks, the red wines in traditional large wooden barrels or in barrique. In the "Edition Tierliebe", named after the pets, white and red cuvées are blended. In years with suitable weather conditions, an ice wine is also produced. White herbs, bottle-fermented vintner' s sparkling wines, secco (sparkling wines), vinegar, noble brandies (p omace) and grape seed oil are also produced. Around 220,000 bottles of wine are produced annually.
