Producer >
In Rudolf’s own words, he feels in “a privileged situation to make a living from 2.5 hectares of vines”. His early years as a boy working with his father, spraying the vines with chemicals and fertilisers led to a realisation that there must be another way. Various figures in his life shaped the direction Rudolf took. It was a book by Rudolf Steiner (the founder of the biodynamic approach to agriculture), that marked the beginning of over 40 years in biodynamic viticulture for the Trossen vines. The purity of the Trossen wines, their filigree minerality and energy seem to reflect the abundance of life both above and below the soils in these vineyards. In the winery, Rudolf takes what could be described as a sympathetic approach coaxing his wines through their ferments, some taking over a year. The purus wines are natural, the others have tiny additions of sulphur to avoid losing the vineyard expression in the glass.
Viticulture >
This family run estate is located in Kinheim on the steeply sided slopes of the Middle Mosel. The soils are weathered grey and blue slate and planted with a lhigh percentage of ungrafted Riesling vines. Trossen turned to biodynamics in 1978, working the plots with the help of biodynamic supplements, minerals and a limited amount of hydrous copper solution to stave off fungal diseases. The climate is continental with warm summers and cold winters. The proximity of the Mosel River acts as a warming element as the sunlight reflects off the water. Rot is a blend of 30 year old Dornfelder and Pinot Noir vines with the Dornfelder planted on sandy clay and the Pinot on grey slate. Harvesting is done by hand.
Winemaking >
"Our Dornfelder vines stand in a fertile soil: sandy loam, which was already tilled by Celts and Romans. The ruins of a Roman villa are nearby. There, during excavations, a statue of Succellus was found, the Gallo-Roman god of the forest and fertility and patron of winegrowers.
We pick the grapes by hand, sort them carefully and leave the grapes partly uncrushed with a certain amount of stems on the skins (macération carbonique); this takes 14 days. Pinot Noir was produced in the same way, but the grapes come from a slate site and bring more minerality. The open and slow fermentation with skins, stems and pips transfers enough tannins, or tannins, into the wine to give it some lasting framework and firm structure"
Dornfelder, Pinot Noir
10.5
GERMANY
6
Cork
Weingut Rudolf Trossen
Biodynamic
Organic
Vegan
Vegetarian 
Fact Sheet
