RELEASE 2020 BERG SCHLOSSBERG – ARTIST LABEL RUDOLF NORDSTRÖM
We are delighted to announce that Swedish artist Rudolf Nordström is the designer behind the label of our 2018 Berg Schlossberg.
Rudolf Nordström’s bond to Georg Breuer as well as to the tradition of Berg Schlossberg artist labels is a special one: his father Jockum Nordström was responsible for the label of the 2004 Berg Schlossberg, Karin Mamma Andersson, Rudolf’s mother, developed the design of the label for the 2014 Berg Schlossberg. Accordingly, Rudolf Nordström has been involved in various artistic confrontations with the subject of wine/viniculture in general and the single vineyard site of the Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg in particular for two decades now: the memory of Jockum Nordström’s impressive stay in Rüdesheim, which awakened in Rudolf an interest in viticulture as an expression of a complex agricultural creative process, was formative; his own first visit to Rüdesheim, accompanying Karin Mamma Andersson while she worked on the realisation of her label design, was intensive. When Rudolph Nordström himself was asked whether he could imagine developing the label of the next Berg Schlossberg vintage artistically, he was already familiar with the subject, which had before been approached, examined and worked on in the family. For Nordström it was immediately clear that he wanted to use the ruins of Ehrenfels Castle as the central motif of his design. Committed to the tradition of classical landscape painting en plein air, he spent a few days near Ehrenfels, equipped with easel, canvases and paints – a sample of 2021 Berg Schlossberg, which had just been bottled at that time, finally helped him to bring together the visual impression of the single vineyard and the sensory impulses of the associated wine in his painting.
Undisputedly, the Berg Schlossberg is Rüdesheim’s top vineyard. With up to 65% steep terraces, these vineyards require a lot of craftsmanship in cultivation. Only the very best lots of the harvest are bottled under the site designation “Berg Schlossberg”.
Bewertungen: Vinum Weinguide Deutschland 2023: 93 points; Eichelmann 2023 – Deutschlands Weine: 94 points
“Deep, firm and concentrated, still a bit smoky-reductive nose with distinctly noble yellow-fruited aromas, a bit of tobacco, hints of yeast, resin, nuts and smoke, herbal nuances, a touch of mushroom and minerality. Tart and taut in the mouth, still completely undeveloped, bright, cool, almost cold fruit, fresh herbal notes, a bit reminiscent of celery and parsley, smoky traces, deep, dense and persistent, enormous, salty and stony minerality, a touch of black berries in the background, gripping, long, very cool, taut finish with tart, noble juice, fresh celery notes, draw and plenty of cold minerality. Drives you right to the marrow. – 97 out of 100 WP” – Weinplus 2023
RELEASE 2020 BERG SCHLOSSBERG – ARTIST LABEL BY PAULA STEIN
We are delighted to announce that the Cologne-based artist Paula Stein agreed to design our 2020 Berg Schlossberg label.
Paula Stein was born in Mainz in 1993, studied communication design in Trier and completed her education with a master’s degree in drawing at the Faculdade das Belas Artes in Lisbon, Portugal.
Paula Stein’s drawings are characterised by the juxtaposition, superimposition and overlapping of detailed ink drawings and two-dimensional, often somewhat coarser structures, patterns and backgrounds. In Stein’s works, however, the meeting and interaction of the formal poles of line and surface is not only realised in the encounters of different drawing techniques or creative paths. In the drawn parts of her works, too, the artist devotes herself to the differentiated representation of surface and corporeality by means of finely applied lines.
In her depiction of a gnarled old vine made for Berg Schlossberg, Paula Stein concentrates on drawing. In this tossed around yet well-thought-out convolute of looping lines, mountains pile up, landscape folds and unfolds. Furthermore, Stein visually quotes the river flowing at the foot of the Rheingau vineyards, the terraced vineyards criss-crossing the Rüdesheimer Berg and finally the drink breaking waves in a glass. The basically simple initial motif, the aging, gnarled vine, pulsates in Paula Stein’s depiction, seems chirpy and alive. It thus also contains the vigour, the dynamism and the passion in dealing with nature that characterise the winemakers’ craft to a special degree, alongside the carefully applied technical know-how.
The Berg Schlossberg is undisputedly Rüdesheim’s top vineyard. With up to 65% steep terraces, these vineyards require a great deal of manual skill in cultivation. Only the very best lots of the harvest are bottled under the site designation “Berg Schlossberg”.
Ratings: Vinum Weinguide Deutschland 2022: 94 points; Eichelmann 2022 – Deutschlands Weine: 93 points; James Suckling: 98 points
“Very classic Schlossberg bouquet, enormously complex and fragrant, expansive yet profound, bright and yellow fruit framed by ethereal notes like mint and dried herbs. Wonderful concentration, but with royal elegance. Enormously juicy, densely woven palate, full of finesse despite its concentration. Great presence and complexity, fascinatingly clear and classic, piquant, finely chiselled acid structure. Seems much fuller, despite its 11.84 vol.% and low residual sugar. Great. 1st place in the Rheingau, Top10 nationwide. – 19 out of 20 points.” – Weinwisser, September 2021
BERNHARD BREUER: 29th October 2000 (DIARIES 1999 – 2004)
“[…] We are out in the fields every day. Weekdays and weekends. Harvesting from 8 in the morning to 5 p.m. and sometimes even longer if we have to finish a vineyard site. Perfect weather conditions alternate with less perfect ones. We have to find the right moments to pick the grapes for the great wines and as I can see, we succeeded in quite some cases. The relatively rainy season asked for flexibility, quick decisions and a good crew to achieve good results. I am very optimistic that we made quite a number of good decisions. High degrees of ripeness in the great sites, coupled with a perfect acidity relation, through careful selection by hand perfectly healthy grapes. The pickers are the true heroes of this vintage.”
Get into Bernhard Breuer’s Wine Diaries 2000.
Here you can find all the other diary entries for download as a PDF.
BERNHARD BREUER: DIARIES 1999 – 2004
At regular intervals we would like to publish diary excerpts from Bernhard Breuer’s notes here.
Bernhard Breuer led the Georg Breuer winery to international renown from the early 1970s until his sudden death in May 2004. With high standards, he was committed to the maximum possible quality of wine as well as the close link between wine and culture. From 1999 to 2004 Bernhard Breue wrote an online diary in which he recorded the everyday life of a winemaker and reported about his journeys that brought him all around the globe.
Get into Bernhard Breuer’s Wine Diaries 1999.
Here you can find all the other diary entries for download as a PDF.
RELEASE 2019 BERG SCHLOSSBERG – ARTIST LABEL BY GERRIT-FROHNE BRINKMANN
We are delighted to announce that the Hamburg-based artist Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann agreed to design our 2019 Berg Schlossberg label. Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann was born in 1990 in Friesoythe. In 2015 he graduated from Hamburg University of Fine Arts. His work has been shown at numerous solo and group exhibitions organized by Kunstpalais Erlangen, Kölnischen Kunstverein and Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover, among others. He is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, like the Follow Fluxus Scholarship granted in 2017 by Nassauischen Kunstvereins Wiesbaden.
Conceptually committed to the particular subject, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann uses a variety of media contexts: he works with installations as well as performances, creates ceramics, Polaroids and drawings or builds kinetic objects. Thematically speaking, his work balances on the brink of a clash between (alleged) high and entertainment culture. In this context, he deals intensively with the phenomena of illusions and staging of performance and effects. Many of his works seek a glimpse into the past, present themselves as if fallen out of time and often appear deliberately artificial or inauthentic.
In his realization of the label for the 2019 Berg Schlossberg, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann refers to Ehrenfels Castle’s ruins, located within the famous vineyard site. The toll castle, built around 1200, situated iconically halfway between the river and the edge of the forest, dominates the Rüdesheimer Berg’s panorama at the point where the Rhine changes its direction of flow from west to the north in a relatively narrow arc. It is also the source behind the site’s name, „Berg Schlossberg“. Oriented towards historicizing magical staging in the context of shallower entertainment culture, Frohne-Brinkmann’s label brings together past and present, high culture, mainstream, and all kind of romantic longings. 2019 Berg Schlossberg label, in the form of the Polaroid photograph, shows the elaborately brilliant fusion of the Rüdesheim castle ruins with the imposing castle complex of some theme park. The medium of Polaroid, constantly wavering (in terms of its popularity and use) between in and out, yesterday and today acts here as an absolute eye-witness. As evidence of a unique and possibly also very personal encounter – Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann invites us to participate in the confusion of truth and fiction, authenticity, memory, suggestion and atmosphere, participation and imagination.
OUR SECOND VINTAGE OF PROJECT “WURZELWERK” AVAILABLE FROM SEPTEMBER 2019
Since 2016 we are part of the grape exchange project “Wurzelwerk”: during harvest the estates Jurtschitsch, Kamptal in Lower Austria, Gunderloch, Rheinhessen, and Georg Breuer provide one another with grapes from one of their top sites and start exploring the terroir: how does a vineyard express itself in a foreign cellar? What gives the tone?
The first vintage of the project “Wurzelwerk” that was developed in team with Georg Breuer is now available and can be purchased in our vinotheque as well as over the homepage of Wurzelwerk.
Further information on the project “Wurzelwerk” can be found on www.wurzelwerk.org .
RELEASE 2017 BERG SCHLOSSBERG – ARTIST LABEL BY FRIEDRICH GOBBESSO
We are delighted to announce that Berlin artist Friedrich Gobbesso is the designer behind the label of our 2017 Berg Schlossberg.
Born in 1980, Gobbesso studied sculpture at the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin. He achieved his master degree as a student of Tristan Pranyko (Experimental Design) and has shown his work in various exhibitions.
In addition to sculptures, Friedrich Gobbesso’s artistic work includes installations, prints and photography – the diversity of these fields mirrors Gobbesso’s universal creative approach. The playful experiment and its incalculable result, curiosity with regard to the detail and the visualisation of hidden aesthetics form the heart of Friedrich Gobbesso’s artistic work. In the visual world, that Gobbesso discovers for the viewer, well-known certainties fall apart – what seemed to be obvious at the beginning, suddenly becomes enigmatic.
In his Moiré-Series Friedrich Gobbesso provokes seemingly monotone grid patterns into an artistic dialogue within the conflicting fields of order and coincidence. Diverse layers of rigid patterns are set on top of each other and in their interplay they form rhythmic (meta-)structures that are later fixed as photograms on baryta paper. Considered as an error in usual printing processes, the moiré effect is artistically cultivated and challenges the eye – the closer one examines the image, the more cryptic it appears.
The label of the 2017 Berg Schlossberg shows the described moiré effect: the neatly arranged pattern of vineyard rows intertwine in the moiré – the supposedly simple display of lines meanders between flat imagery and physically moved scenic values. Visual irritations emerge even before one has enjoyed a sip of that exquisite Riesling.
Wine description: Immense power and finesse come together. Salty and juicy at the same time. A lot of mineral spiciness. Delicate scent of stone fruits and orange skin. A Riesling with elegant style and fine tannins. Very long lasting and with a monumental depth.
Low yields of 18hl/hectare.
Ratings: Gault Millau Wein Guide Deutschland 2019: 98 points; Eichelmann 2019 – Deutschlands Weine: 94 points; Falstaff WeinGuide 2019: 95 points
RELEASE 2018 BERG SCHLOSSBERG – ARTIST LABEL BY PIETARI POSTI
We are delighted to announce that Finnish illustrator Pietari Posti is the designer behind the label of our 2018 Berg Schlossberg.
Pietari Posti was born in Helsinki in 1979. He studied graphic design at Lathi Polytechnic University and afterwards moved to Barcelona where he founded Studio Posti. Posti develops illustrations for book covers, posters, packagings and advertising campaigns. He meanwhile works with a wide range of international clients such as Apple, Random House, Starbucks, Monocle, The New York Times or The Guardian.
Pietari Posti feels inspired by the beauty of nature and its creation of the female form. His work celebrates the beauty of the world by simplifying it down to clean lines and crisp, bold shapes.
Within the label of the 2018 Berg Schlossberg Posti refers to the bold round shapes of the Rüdesheim hills and the Rhine river beautifully flowing below. The gigantic foot gently laying over the hill represents the people, work and care behind the wine as well as the tradition and the future of the Georg Breuer wines. Stilistic Posti refers to the beginnings of modern tourism and its joint promises and desires. By arranging a composition of tempting distinctness Posti provides the pictured subject with world-enraptured timelessness.
Wine description: Immense power and finesse come together. Salty and juicy at the same time. A lot of mineral spiciness. Delicate scent of stone fruits and orange skin.
A Riesling with elegant style and fine tannins. Very long lasting and with a monumental depth.
Low yields of 18hl/hectare.
Ratings: Vinum Weinguide Deutschland 2020: 91 points; Eichelmann 2020 – Deutschlands Weine: 93 points; Falstaff WeinGuide 2020: 94 points
EVENTS ON THE ESTATE
MAY 2023
07. & 08.05., 11am to 5pm – OpenHouse
Presentation and tasting of Vintage 2022
GEORG BREUER ON TOUR
MAY 2023
12.05. – Culinary Wine Tasting, Im Vorderhus, Wehr
For further information and registration check: www.im-vorderhus.de
JUNE 2023
02.06. – Riesling Parade, Kronenschlösschen, Hattenheim
For further information and registration check: www.kronenschloesschen.de
03.06. – Wine evening, Tipsy, Regensburg
For further information check: https://betterbetipsy.de
JULY 2023
29.07. – White Wine Night, Weingut Van Volxem, Wiltingen-Saar
For further information and registration check: https://vanvolxem.com