Weingut Schumacher

The winery is located in the municipality of St. Aldegund (Burg Cochem area) in the German wine-growing region of Mosel. It has been managed by Joachim Schumacher, Dipl.-Ing. for Viticulture & Oenology, since 1998. The vineyards cover 3.5 hectares of vineyards in the single vineyard sites Klosterberg and Stephansberg (Merl), Abtei Klosterstuben (Bremm), Himmelreich (St. Aldegund), and Frauenberg (Neef). They are 65% planted with the white wine varieties Riesling (90%), Kerner and Bacchus, and 35% with the red wine varieties Pinot Noir, Regent, Pinot Meunier, Frühburgunder, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The average age of the vines is 35 years. The oldest terraced vineyards of the Neefer Frauenberg are around 110 years old. The average yield is 50 hl/ha for white wine and 15 hl/ha for red wine. A certain percentage of noble rotten berries is expressly desired during the harvest for the white wines.

The farm's goal is to produce finesse-rich Rieslings with low alcohol but subtle structure. After spontaneous fermentation in cooled stainless steel tanks with the vineyard's own yeasts, there follows a long period of ageing on the fine lees. The dry Rieslings reach the final fermentation stage after just under a year and are only bottled then. During the grape harvest for the red wines, the rotten berries are selected manually. After destemming, the grapes are left to ferment on the skins for 10 to 21 days. The dry red wines mature for one to two years in barriques. Depending on the quality of the grapes, it is decided whether new or used barriques are used. During this time, no preservation takes place for eight months, so that any filtration can be dispensed with. The wood should be integrated and not appear overloaded. Bottle-fermented sparkling wines and a sparkling red wine are also produced.