Summary
Weingut Prinz in Hallgarten is one of the most remarkable success stories of the Rheingau. What Fred Prinz began in 1991 as a sideline with a handful of parcels is today a certified organic family estate of around 12 hectares and a fixture of the region. Some 90 percent of the area is planted to Riesling, complemented by Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Traminer. The estate has been a member of the VDP.Rheingau since 2005 and has farmed under organic certification since 2009. The style is straight, cool and firmly rooted in origin – from the dry estate Riesling to the nobly sweet rarities from the Jungfer site that have drawn international attention.
History
The estate's history is unusual for the tradition-loving Rheingau: it begins not with a centuries-old family seat but in 1991, with a winemaker who started as a sideline and with a very small area. Fred Prinz had learned his craft but had no inherited estate to build on – the holdings grew parcel by parcel, vintage by vintage.
The breakthrough came faster than those modest beginnings suggested. Critics and merchants noticed the clarity of the wines and their cool, precise tone. In 2005 the estate was admitted to the VDP.Rheingau – a clear endorsement from the region itself, since the association takes on new members only rarely and after close scrutiny.
2009 brought the next step: conversion to organic viticulture. Today the estate holds EU organic certification and also works on biodynamic principles. The one-man project has long since become a family business: Sabine Prinz helps carry the estate, the children Anna and Florian grew up into the work, and Florian is now closely involved in running it.
Location & terroir
Hallgarten is the highest-lying wine village in the municipality of Oestrich-Winkel and sits noticeably above the riverside sites, at the foot of the Taunus hills. That elevation is one key to the house style: nights are cooler, ripening is slower, and the wines keep a clear acid structure even in warm vintages. In an era of rising average temperatures, that is a tangible advantage.
The soils vary over short distances, which explains the estate's range. In the Jungfer, quartzite dominates, overlaid with gravelly loess loam – the basis for taut, minerally tensioned Rieslings. The Schönhell is loess loam, partly sandy and partly stony, and yields somewhat fuller, broader wines. The Hendelberg, in turn, rests on blue and green slate or phyllite, a soil that suits Pinot Noir especially well.
Style & philosophy
Fred Prinz sums up his ambition briefly: to make wine with full passion and with respect for nature. In practice that means rigorous work in the vineyard – reduced yields, cover crops, no synthetic treatments – and a restrained cellar that does not overwrite origin.
The dry Rieslings are accordingly straight and cool: clear fruit, precise acidity, saltiness rather than opulence. They aim not at power but at drinkability and ageing potential. Alongside them the estate maintains the Rheingau's long tradition of nobly sweet Prädikat wines – Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, which in good years rank among the estate's internationally noted bottlings. The Pinot Noir from the slate of the Hendelberg is the red counterpart, likewise built for finesse rather than weight.
Notable sites & wines
The range follows the VDP pyramid – from estate wine through village wines to single-site wines and Grosses Gewächs. The most important sites include:
- Hallgartener Jungfer – VDP.Grosse Lage, quartzite with loess loam; source of the Grosses Gewächs and of the celebrated nobly sweet Auslesen
- Hallgartener Schönhell – VDP.Grosse Lage on loess loam; likewise a Grosses Gewächs
- Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg, Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen and Erbacher Marcobrunn – small parcels in some of the most famous sites in the Rheingau
- Hallgartener Hendelberg – VDP.Erste Lage on slate, the basis for the Pinot Noir
- Hallgartener Frühernberg and Hattenheimer Schützenhaus – VDP.Erste Lage sites
Awards
The estate's development is reflected in the guide ratings: Eichelmann lists Weingut Prinz with 4 stars, Gault&Millau with 3 grapes. Internationally, it was above all the 2015 Hallgarten Jungfer Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel that caused a stir, rated 100 points by James Suckling – a top score awarded only very rarely in German wine. The dry single-site wines also regularly earn high marks from Falstaff and in the international trade press.