Hees

At Weingut Hees in the Nahe, little is left to chance. The vines are given personal care all year round, as it were. Not out of fear, but out of love; for Marcus Hees, the ninth generation at this family winery from 1824, his work is a dream come true.

And there is plenty of work on the slopes around the village of Auen, where Marcus Hees is the only winegrower. His beautiful vineyard Römerstich, surrounded by forest, of just over 4 hectares, is located on a hill that is over 300 metres high, with a fairly steep slope (inclination up to 60%) facing south. The main soil types are weathered sandstone and Tonschiefer (clay-derived slate); on the richer plots, weissburgunder is planted, on the steeper and leaner parts, riesling. The microclimate is such that the grapes can often remain hanging until the end of November. Hees also owns a plot on the famous Monzinger Halenberg, close to the river Nahe. Here too, a poor soil of mainly Blauschiefer (stony slate with a blue sheen) and quartzite. A soil that cries out for Riesling, according to Marcus.

Most of the work on the estate has to be done by hand, from pruning and tying up to and including the harvest, and everything has to meet the standards of Marcus and his team. The grapes are only harvested when they are ripe down to their smallest fibers; Marcus is not afraid to give things time. In the cellar, the wine is allowed to ferment spontaneously – which requires the utmost hygiene – and rest for a long time. Here too, precision, time and patience play a major role. No wonder that the wines from Hees are so incredibly good and are praised in the wine magazine Falstaff and the guide by Gerhard Eichelmann, among others. They are fresh, lively, long, intense – and above all very tasty.