Producer Article
Georg Breuer
Last edited on 10/12/2013 by Paui
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Producer website
Region: Rheingau
City: Rüdesheim am Rhein
Winery Website: www.georg-breuer.com
OVERVIEW
Founded in 1880. From the early 1980s, small holdings in the Berg Schlossberg were expanded by Bernhard and Heinrich Breuer into the present 60-acre Rheingau estate including vineyards on the best steep slopes of Rüdesheim and Rauenthal. During this period the Breuers have ceaselessly pursued terroir-driven non-interventionist winemaking and viticulture, resulting in traditional ageworthy dry wines reminiscent of the legendary Rheingaus produced in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. Wines are aged on their lees and clarified traditionally in oak cooperage.
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HISTORY
Georg Breuer was founded in 1880 by Peter Breuer, partner of the venerable German wine shipping firm Scholl & Hillebrand, thereafter owned by Peter's son Georg and then grandsons Bernhard and Heinrich upon Georg's passing in 1978. The shipping firm was sold and during the 1980's and 1990's Bernhard and Heinrich carefully expanded the vineyard estate from 20 acres to its present 60 acres in the steepest, most well-drained vineyards of the Rheingau communes of Rüdesheim and Rauenthal. Co-author of authoritative books on Germany's wine regions and credited to a great degree with restoring Riesling's respectability in world markets, Bernhard Breuer was highly regarded internationally and worked tirelessly in defense of German viticultural integrity. From 2004, Theresa Breuer, Heinrich Breuer and winemaker Hermann Schmoranz carry on Bernhard's ideals in his memory. Production at Breuer follows a strict terroir-based hierarchy for the production of naturally dry wines made from healthy, ripe Riesling grapes, featuring Breuer's flagship crus Rüdesheim Berg Schlossberg (artist series dating from 1980) and the 12.5-acre monopole Rauenthal Nonnenberg. A superb proprietary wine called Terra Montosa fills a secondary level. Its Latin name honoring the steep mountain slopes, Montosa is a complex interplay of wines from the Rüdesheimer Berg's slate/quartzite terraces and Rauenthal's loam and gravel soils. Finally, an excellent regional Rheingau Riesling, "GB Charm," offers great value in the inimitable, elegant Breuer style. Rare and glorious sweet wines are also made at Breuer when natural conditions permit the development of clean botrytis. Breuer wines are characterized by precise balance of flavor extract and rassig (racy) aromatic elegance from slate soils, achieved through disciplined harvesting and minuscule yields. Natural clarification results from fermentation and less contact in oak ovals. Breuer Rieslings are universal (yes, Classical) and meant for the serious table. They are ageworthy, investment-quality wines of the highest order, regarded with considerable awe by the international trade and press. Bernhard expressed it best: "At Georg Breuer low-tech is the theme in both the vineyard and the cellar, as we reverted to natural wines made in the traditional manner. A great majority of wines with a dry finish is the logical result, although such wines can only come from the best sites giving the highest levels of concentration and mineral extract from healthy grapes, since there will be no residual sugar to camouflage thinness. A great naturally-fermented wine is in itself a demonstration of the pedigree of its source, and the vineyard sites capable of producing such wines have been perfectly known to the vintners for centuries." - Bernhard Breuer, May 2000
Region: Rheingau
City: Rüdesheim am Rhein
Winery Website: www.georg-breuer.com
OVERVIEW
Founded in 1880. From the early 1980s, small holdings in the Berg Schlossberg were expanded by Bernhard and Heinrich Breuer into the present 60-acre Rheingau estate including vineyards on the best steep slopes of Rüdesheim and Rauenthal. During this period the Breuers have ceaselessly pursued terroir-driven non-interventionist winemaking and viticulture, resulting in traditional ageworthy dry wines reminiscent of the legendary Rheingaus produced in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. Wines are aged on their lees and clarified traditionally in oak cooperage.
Back to top
HISTORY
Georg Breuer was founded in 1880 by Peter Breuer, partner of the venerable German wine shipping firm Scholl & Hillebrand, thereafter owned by Peter's son Georg and then grandsons Bernhard and Heinrich upon Georg's passing in 1978. The shipping firm was sold and during the 1980's and 1990's Bernhard and Heinrich carefully expanded the vineyard estate from 20 acres to its present 60 acres in the steepest, most well-drained vineyards of the Rheingau communes of Rüdesheim and Rauenthal. Co-author of authoritative books on Germany's wine regions and credited to a great degree with restoring Riesling's respectability in world markets, Bernhard Breuer was highly regarded internationally and worked tirelessly in defense of German viticultural integrity. From 2004, Theresa Breuer, Heinrich Breuer and winemaker Hermann Schmoranz carry on Bernhard's ideals in his memory. Production at Breuer follows a strict terroir-based hierarchy for the production of naturally dry wines made from healthy, ripe Riesling grapes, featuring Breuer's flagship crus Rüdesheim Berg Schlossberg (artist series dating from 1980) and the 12.5-acre monopole Rauenthal Nonnenberg. A superb proprietary wine called Terra Montosa fills a secondary level. Its Latin name honoring the steep mountain slopes, Montosa is a complex interplay of wines from the Rüdesheimer Berg's slate/quartzite terraces and Rauenthal's loam and gravel soils. Finally, an excellent regional Rheingau Riesling, "GB Charm," offers great value in the inimitable, elegant Breuer style. Rare and glorious sweet wines are also made at Breuer when natural conditions permit the development of clean botrytis. Breuer wines are characterized by precise balance of flavor extract and rassig (racy) aromatic elegance from slate soils, achieved through disciplined harvesting and minuscule yields. Natural clarification results from fermentation and less contact in oak ovals. Breuer Rieslings are universal (yes, Classical) and meant for the serious table. They are ageworthy, investment-quality wines of the highest order, regarded with considerable awe by the international trade and press. Bernhard expressed it best: "At Georg Breuer low-tech is the theme in both the vineyard and the cellar, as we reverted to natural wines made in the traditional manner. A great majority of wines with a dry finish is the logical result, although such wines can only come from the best sites giving the highest levels of concentration and mineral extract from healthy grapes, since there will be no residual sugar to camouflage thinness. A great naturally-fermented wine is in itself a demonstration of the pedigree of its source, and the vineyard sites capable of producing such wines have been perfectly known to the vintners for centuries." - Bernhard Breuer, May 2000