Summary
Weingut A. Diehl lies in Edesheim, a tranquil wine village on the Southern Wine Route in the heart of the southern Palatinate. The family estate has been run since 1999 by Alexandra-Isabell and Andreas Diehl, who have grown it from around twelve hectares to roughly 80 hectares of vineyard today. The range is deliberately broad: Riesling and the Pinot family form the core, complemented by Sauvignon Blanc, red wines and blends. Particularly distinctive is the triple role as winery, sparkling wine house and distillery – alongside still wine, Sekt and fine spirits are made here as well. At the heart of the property stands a press house dating from 1821.
History
The roots of the estate reach far back into the 19th century: the press house in Edesheim was built in 1821 and remains the centre of the business to this day. The name of the estate goes back to August Diehl, whose initial still stands in the name.
The decisive turning point came in 1999, when Andreas Diehl took over the business together with his wife Alexandra-Isabell. Back then, A. Diehl was a small family operation with around twelve hectares of vineyard. Over the following two decades and more, the estate grew steadily – through the purchase and lease of further parcels as well as through the expansion of its sparkling wine production and distillery. Today the family farms around 80 hectares; through partnerships with other growers, the house markets wine from a considerably larger area still.
Alongside the wine, the business has also established itself as a hospitality address: under the name DIEHLicious, the family runs a hotel and restaurant, making the estate directly accessible to visitors to the southern Palatinate.
Location & Terroir
Edesheim lies on the Southern Wine Route, the stretch of the Palatinate between Neustadt and the French border that counts among the warmest and sunniest wine regions in Germany. The Haardt escarpment – the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest – shields the vines against weather from the west and creates an exceptionally mild climate. Figs, kiwis and citrus trees thrive outdoors here; scarcely another part of Germany feels so Mediterranean.
The estate's vineyards run in a wide arc from St. Martin to Landau and are spread across numerous small parcels with different microclimates and soil types. Among the most important sites are the Edesheimer Mandelhang and the Edesheimer Rosengarten, along with the Weyherer Michelsberg and the Burrweiler Schlossgarten at the foot of the Haardt. The range of soils – from lighter, sandier sections to limestone- and clay-influenced sites – is the basis for the estate's broad spectrum of varieties: cooler, mineral positions bring forth taut Rieslings, while warmer, deeper soils carry the Pinot varieties and the reds.
Style & Philosophy
The family's working creed is a provenance-driven, variety-true signature: each grape variety and each site is considered on its own terms and vinified in the cellar so that its character reaches the glass undistorted. In the vineyard the estate relies on careful soil management, avoiding chemical fertilisers and using beneficial insects for pest control – sustainability is understood as a precondition for wine quality.
In the range, this attitude is reflected in two lines. Eins zu Eins stands for the single-variety wines, in which grape and élevage are meant to sit in balanced proportion. Drei zu Eins denotes the blends, in which several lots are brought together into a coherent whole.
Stylistically, dry wines dominate: clear, fruit-driven Rieslings, creamy Weißburgunder and Grauburgunder, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc on the white side, joined by Spätburgunder and international red varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon. The programme is rounded out by sparkling wines – including a Blanc de Noirs – and the products of the estate's own distillery, which makes the business an unusually broadly positioned address in the Palatinate.
Notable Sites & Wines
The vineyards are scattered across the Southern Wine Route. Among the sites the estate particularly highlights are:
- Edesheimer Mandelhang – one of the estate's core sites
- Edesheimer Rosengarten – where Weißburgunder and Chardonnay do especially well
- Weyherer Michelsberg – on the Haardt escarpment north of Edesheim
- Burrweiler Schlossgarten – a site further south on the Southern Wine Route
The range spans from uncomplicated estate wines through the single-variety wines of the Eins zu Eins line to the blends and the house's sparkling wines. Riesling, Weißburgunder and Grauburgunder form the white backbone, Spätburgunder and Cabernet Sauvignon the red side.
Awards
A. Diehl has a presence well beyond the Palatinate: the wines are distributed nationwide through specialist retail and the restaurant trade. At international competitions, the estate's wines have repeatedly been awarded, among them a Blanc de Noirs at the Mondial du Merlot and a Weißer Burgunder at the Mondial des Pinots. The estate is also active in several professional associations – including Pro Riesling, the Sommelier Union, Slow Food and the Pfälzer Edelbrand association – which underlines its range across wine, Sekt and spirits.