25.09.2020

Actually, the wine production of a year begins with the pruning in winter and ends with the sale. Perhaps the most exciting and entertaining time, however, is autunn.

It starts with the grape harvest (in the dialect: wimmen). Family, friends, acquaintances and even guests come together at the Rielingerhof to help with the picking. The harvested grapes are then separated from the stems and squeezed. Depending on the variety, they slip directly into the barrel or into the wine press before. The pressed juice is then pumped free of peels and seeds into the barrels. Red wine is fed into the barrels without pressing, so that the juice can take over the red color of the peels. A special feature at the Rielinger is, that a part of the white wine is also made this way – without pressing in the barrels - for the taste.
Another special feature is that yeast additions are avoided as far as possible – the juice is fermented "spontaneously" in a very natural way, i.e. only with yeasts already contained in it.
As long as it has not yet happened, the wine is now pressed and separated from the yeast. Here comes the third special feature: the fermentation is not stopped with sulfur, but is determined by the harvest date: The earlier the harvest, the less sugar, and: as soon as the sugar is fermented, the alcohol content no longer increases!
All this happens in September and October with 8 varieties at the same time. One of them, and this is also something special, is the Blatterle, a very unknown but ancient white wine variety, which is grown around the world only by a handful of winemakers.