Get your glasses - it’s time for a

tasting! It’s exactly midday on

the Dreissigacker wine estate in

Bechtheim and – as every day at

this time – the family and staff

get together under the pergola in

the courtyard. There are pots

with steaming hot pumpkins,

potatoes and cauliflower. The

platter with breaded escalopes of

chicken is being passed around

the table. This could easily be a

scene directly out of the country

magazine “Landlust“.

And just as on every Thursday

Ma Dreissigacker fetches a bottle

from the shelf which has been

wrapped in paper and pours a

little bit of white wine into each

glass.

It’s lunchtime at the

Dreissigackers.

“It’s very important to cultivate

your taste buds“, explains

Jochen. Wine quizzes are just his

scene. This man is always striving

for improvement and perfection.

Jochen Dreissigacker, just 33

years old, is one of the young

German star wine-growers on his

way to gaining a worldwide

reputation. His Rieslings, Pinot

Blancs and Chardonnays are

served in the Adlon Hotel in

Berlin, in Tim Raue’s restaurants,

in the Sansibar restaurant on Sylt

and in the Burj al Arab Hotel in

Dubai. At last year’s state

banquet with Angela Merkel,

Barack Obama drank one of his

Pinot Noir wines. The famous

British wine critic Jancis Robinson

has described him as being nearly

a genius. Behind this success is

also Jochen’s brother, Christian

Dreissigacker. More than a

decade ago the pair of them

started wine-growing together

and then slowly went their

separate ways. Jochen became a

star with his high-class creations

whilst Christian is happy with

producing wines of a respectable

quality: the artist and the wine-

grower.

Today they each do their own

thing, but neither of them can do

without the other. Together they

trudge through Jochen‘s vineyard

in the Rosengarten. Sweet peas,

clover and herbs grow between

the vines. A light breeze chases

little puffs of cloud across the

late summer sky. Rows of vines

stretch over the lush green hills

towards the horizon. This is sheer

bliss! Jochen is highly

concentrated. Harvesting will

begin in three to four weeks. He

is under enormous pressure as

someone of his calibre has to

prove himself every year. This is

the most exciting time, he says.

The grapes have to be tasted

every day until it is exactly the

right time to harvest them. He

scrutinizes the heavens:

“If we don’t have any more rain

this could be a really great

vintage." Christian stands next to

him and as usual lets his brother

carry on talking. Suddenly he

finds some tumbleweed amongst

the vines. They then both start

weeding frantically and forget

everything around them.

NO MORE CHEMICAL HAMMERS

The two brothers could not be

more different. Jochen looks a bit

like a young Hugh Grant with his

narrow face and full head of dark

hair. His slender fingers never

stop moving when he talks about

his ambitious goal of creating the

ultimate wine.

Christian is two years older and a

head taller. He does not have

much hair and is a man of few

words. He has strong hands –

ideal for repairing harvesting

machines, bottling plants and

vine trimmers. One brother is the

man possessed and the other is

the born farmer.

Dreissigacker. Until a few years

ago this wine estate did not differ

from the many hundreds of other

wine estates in Rheinhessen. It

was founded in 1728 and passed

on from one generation to the

next.

On 14 hectares of land, the

Dreissigacker brothers’ parents

cultivated wines which appealed

to the local taste: a few red

wines, a few white wines –

“charming patio wines“- as their

mother calls them. The

customers picked their wine up

themselves, ate in the family‘s

“Straußwirtschaft“(seasonal wine

tavern) and stayed overnight in

the guestrooms. Good money

was earned and everything could

have continued in the same way.

Upon finishing his training as a

wine-grower, Christian, the elder

brother, started working in the

family business. Jochen was

supposed to learn something

sensible and became an

apprentice to a befriended tax

advisor. “When you’re 16 you

just don’t question the decision”

he says today. Whilst his friends

from the football club started

making their own wines, Jochen

was brooding over business

assessments and cost centres. It

was not his dream job but Jochen

is someone who stays the course

and grits on his teeth to finish

what he has started.

He got top marks in his final

exams which he wrote in

hospital. A few days earlier he

had had an accident and

fractured his thigh. The local

newspaper even wrote an article

about it.

“If Jochen were to ring me today,

I would re-employ him straight

away“, says his former boss.

However, just one year after

Jochen passed his exams the star

apprentice chucked his job. Only

24 hours later he had an

apprenticeship with two star wine-

growers in his pocket. Right from

the outset he wanted to be

successful beyond the realm of his

parents’ respectable vineyard. He

wanted to become famous and

achieve something really great.

Whilst studying oenology, he and

his fellow-students tasted their

way through the world’s Grand

Crus in the ,,Ratskeller" in

Heilbronn.

Each one of them put 50 Euros

into the kitty every week so that

they could buy top wines and

learn all about them. In the

evenings and at weekends he

started to completely restructure

his parents’ wine estate together

with his brother. Jochen started

to drive the rest of the family in

the direction of ecological wine-

growing, spontaneous

fermentation and allowing the

yeast to ferment for longer

periods.

No more chemical hammers –

the vines were only sprayed with

herbal teas. They hand-picked

the grapes in the first five

hectares of vineyards. “We

worked in the same way as

previous generations" Christian

explains. The “Straußwirtschaft”

and the guestrooms were done

away with. They got rid of the

mild red wines and sweeter

white wines. Jochen’s Motto:

“We only make wines that we

like“. He halved the number of

grapes on the vines so that the

flavours could concentrate in the

remaining fruit.

He left the must on the fine

yeast for as long as possible so

that the wines had a more

pronounced character. “My

father found these changes very

hard", says Jochen. From these

words you can only guess how

deep the conflict between the

two generations was. The

brothers were very happy with

their results, but not the

consumers. In the first year they

lost 70 per cent of their

customers.

You can tell that Jochen found all

of this a bit strange at the time.

“At that point in time I would

have asked my sons what on

earth they think they’re doing?"

But his parents, who at that time

were only in their mid-forties, let

their sons carry on. They knew

that sooner or later change was

inevitable and they also started

to believe in the new ideas.

This is because Jochen‘s ideas

came at just the right time.

German wines had fallen into

disrepute. Everywhere young

wine-growers like him appeared

and tried to help restore German

wines to their former glory. This

generation of wine-growers

focused on quality rather than on

quantity. A group of youngsters

in the locality founded a wine

club called “Message in a Bottle"

and exchanged their ideas.

Jochen and Christian also joined

the club.

The revolution on the

Dreissigacker estate could have

failed. However, suddenly the

Dreissigackers started being

successful. In 2004 Stuart Pigott,

the most important British wine

critic, praised Dreissigacker’s 03

vintage Hasensprung Riesling in

the “FAZ". Only three days later

the entire stock was sold out.

Accolades were awarded. The

Dreissigackers pursued their

course.

PROVIDENCE OR FOLLY?

The Dreissigackers pampered the

old vines and planted new wines.

They leased and bought land and

exchanged vineyards with other

wine-growers. Whatever did not

fit into the concept of “tasting

the wine from the soil” was

discarded. For example, they

exchanged a vineyard of

Dornfelder vines for an old

vineyard of Riesling vines in

Geyersberg which the owner

really wanted to get rid of as he

felt the yields were too low.

“The locals all thought that we

had gone mad“, laughs Jochen.

And would you believe it, the

grapes for the estate’s best and

most expensive wines are now

grown in this very vineyard. This

exchange endowed him with a

unique sales advantage: six

Riesling appellations. At

Dreissigackers you can buy a box

containing six bottles of Riesling

wine and each one will taste

different.

THE CELLAR AS A LABORATORY

Under Jochen’s management

wine-making on the estate has

become a long-term chemical

experiment. If it is too cool, he

heats the cellar up with gas

bottles in order to speed up the

fermentation process. If it is too

warm he opens up the air vents

to slow the fermentation process

down. He waits a long time

before adding sulphur -

sometimes too long and a barrel

of wine turns into vinegar. “How

can you make something

outstanding if you never take a

risk?" His expression reveals that

he never has to ask himself this

question. Connoisseurs describe

the wines created by the young

Dreissigacker as rich and

voluptuous and not simple and

acidic. Einzigacker, his legendary

Pinot Blanc is one of the few

German wines which can be

served with Asian food. Ina Finn,

who for a long time has been

sommeliere in Hamburg’s luxury

hotel Louis C. Jacob, can taste a

Dreissigacker wine straight away

“at every wine-tasting because of

its very individual stylistics“.

Many wine-growers have made

decent wines according to the

books. “But they have no soul.

You can tell that Dreissigacker

puts his whole heart into his

wines.”

If you talk about wine with

Jochen Dreissigacker you soon

notice that he is addicted to

taste. When talking about hints

of pear or acidity levels he just

bubbles over with excitement.

However, sometimes he simply

says “a tasty wine“. 2005 was a

fateful year for the

Dreissigackers. At the Pro Wein

trade fair they only handed out

three business cards. One of

them was given to Frank

Deutschmann, sommelier of the

supplier to the Adlon Hotel.

Jochen went to Berlin to present

his wines – the small wine-

grower from Rheinhessen

marched into the Adlon, self-

confident and ambitious. After

the presentation the luxury hotel

ordered thousands of bottles as

did some of Berlin’s top

restaurants. More importantly, a

few weeks later Jochen got to

know Tim Raue at a party held in

the restaurant Fischers Fritz. Tim

Raue was on his way to becoming

a real star of European cuisine.

There are two versions as to how

this came about. Raue claims to

have heard Jochen cheekily and

naively asking, who “that bloke” is.

“Sod you,” I thought, “who do you

think you are?“. Jochen

Dreissigacker recalls how at the

time he thought the man was

pretty arrogant.

“A few weeks later he rang and

asked where the wine was that I

was supposed to have sent to him

“. Whichever version is true, fact is

that since Dreissigacker and Raue

met everyone is talking about

Jochen’s wines. And Tim Raue,

who is not at all interested in the

“vines and all that stuff”, has

become his friend and is one of his

best customers.

When Jochen is in Berlin his chum

cooks for him. When Raue comes

to Bechtheim, Jochen gets his most

treasured wines out of the cellar.

“Jochen expresses his personality

in his wines", says Raue. “I try to

do the same when I cook."

Sometimes Jochen gets annoyed

that his wines are not prized

enough by the critics. But then

Raue consoles him: “It really

doesn’t matter. What’s important

is that you have sold out. “

The Dreissigacker Revolution

resulted in the brothers going in

different directions. Christian felt

that the new course was too

extreme: Picking grapes exclusively

by hand and without a conveyor

belt so that they do not get

bruised; up to 1000 working-hours

per hectare in the vineyard, which

is more than triple the time spent

by other wine estates; his

brother’s continual experimenting;

filling 200 barrels with grape juice,

only to spend the following

months constantly testing, mixing

and decanting in pursuit of

perfection. “I wanted to produce

light, sweet, easy-to-drink wines

for a change," says Christian.

There is no hint of anger or envy in

his voice.

He and his brother are just

“completely different“. End of

story.

The family does not let on if there

were ever any big arguments at

that time.

“I have always said that if one of

us has to leave, then it will be me,”

says Jochen. They all knew that the

wine estate could not support

everyone. This does not sound like

a conflict.

DETERMINATION IS MORE

IMPORTANT THAN EXPERIENCE

The brothers never allowed a rift

to develop between them. In 2006

they bought Dr.Koehler‘s

neighbouring wine estate for

Christian. Their parents were the

guarantors. This is a traditional

wine estate with a very old vaulted

cellar and a decent reputation. The

original heirs to the estate were

not interested in continuing the

business. Yet again the business

was restructured but this time in

accordance with Christian’s ideas.

Since then he has been producing

average-priced quality wines under

the brand name of Dr. Koehler for

the catering sector and mail order

business. These are produced

ecologically, just like the

Dreissigacker wines, but more

machinery is used in the

production process. Of the

600.000 bottles which the brothers

sell each year 400.000 bear the

Dr.Koehler label. However, the

Dreissigacker brand is more

profitable.

Jochen has pursued his

uncompromising course. In 2013

he took over the entire estate and

paid his brother out which made

his mother very proud. She is a

hands-on person in her late fifties

and a fantastic sales-woman.

Before you can say “Jack

Robinson” she has managed to sell

you three bottles of Beerenauslese

for 90 Euros a bottle („How about

buying a bottle for your mother

too“), even though they will

probably never be drunk. She talks

a lot about Jochen, his wines and

his great achievements. The new

tasting room has a huge French

oak table, Eames chairs and photos

on the walls depicting yachts and

private jets all of which have been

photo-shopped to bear the name

of Dreissigacker. These were given

to Jochen as a present by his

father-in-law.

Christian sits in the room as if he

was a visitor and reflects on his

relationship with his brother. ,,I

really don’t know what would have

happened if we had continued to

run the business together“ he says

“but nowadays we get on better

together than ever before.” Now

they share the responsibilities:

Christian looks after the machinery

and maintains the business. The

employees work on both estates.

Jochen is responsible for the

manual work and travels

throughout the country promoting

his wine. For example, last spring

he was in Tim Mälzer’s ,,Off Club"

in Hamburg eating Iberico pork ribs

and raving about his Rieslings and

his colourful troop of employees in

the vineyard: his foreman, a

Turkish car mechanic or the intern

from Hamburg, to whom he

immediately offered an

apprenticeship. Jochen‘s Motto:

“Determination is more important

than experience“.

Soon he has to go to Norway

which is the most important export

market together with the U.A.E. He

has just received the first order

from Bordeaux. He is repeatedly to

be seen sitting together with star

chefs and sommeliers throughout

the country and fighting to get his

wines listed. His top-quality wines

are regularly sold out. The 2013

vintage Einzigacker even had to be

rationed. Whoever ordered twelve

bottles only got three.

At home the brothers have

breakfast together every day and

discuss what has to be done on

that day. They only go their

separate ways during harvesting.

Then each one of them is in his

own vineyard. In the evenings

Jochen and Christian sit together in

the “Landhaus" which Wolfgang

Dubs, a veteran of Nouvelle-

Cuisine has just opened in the

neighbouring village of Osthofen.

There are not many good

restaurants in the local area.

Philipp Wittmann and Stefan

Winter join them. They are

comrades from the football club

and fellow-members of “Message

in a Bottle". And soon the four of

them are wrapped in discussions

about optimal fermentation times,

problems they are having with

their bottling plants, European

grape berry moths and fruit flies,

the latest local council meeting

and the wines which they drank on

Wittmann’s 40th birthday.

“We wine-growers don`t talk

rubbish,” says Jochen. “We used to

talk about mistakes which we had

made but nowadays we discuss

nuances.” They continue drinking

German white wine. Shortly before

midnight they leave. That’s enough

for today. Tomorrow space has to

be made in the cellars for the 2014

vintage.

(Original text in German) Christian Baulig

Translated by Liane Wagner