Germany · Nahe

Reh Kendermann

A Bingen-based German producer behind Black Tower and dry, grape-led bottles including Pfalz Kalkstein Riesling.

The producer

Reh Kendermann runs winemaking, bottling and storage from Bingen, drawing on a business that began as Carl Reh senior’s 1920 grape, must and wine trade in Leiwen. Its flagship Black Tower sells more than 10 million bottles a year, while the wider range separates high-volume branded wines from bottles that name a grape, region or cellar treatment.

Pfalz Kalkstein Riesling is the clearest dry white in that range: Riesling from the Pfalz, aged on fine lees without oak. Apple, grapefruit and citrus lead in youth; lees add texture while the absence of barrel flavour keeps the fruit direct. With age, the profile can move toward baked apple, honey and ripe melon.

Known for

Large-scale German wine production, from Black Tower’s international range to dry Pfalz Riesling shaped by fine-lees ageing.

Notable facts

The story

Twelve Million Bottles

In 2008, reported sales of Black Tower reached 12 million bottles. The brand had become the best-selling German wine brand worldwide, with its scale measured in bottles sold rather than a single vintage or award. Black Tower sat within a business whose roots reached back to 1920, when Carl Reh senior began trading grape, must and wine in Leiwen in the Mosel valley. Decades later, the 1997 merger of Carl Reh and Hermann Kendermann created the Bingen-based Reh Kendermann Weinkellerei GmbH. Black Tower remains the company’s flagship, with annual sales exceeding 10 million bottles.

Twelve Million Bottles

In 2008, reported sales of Black Tower reached 12 million bottles. The brand had become the best-selling German wine brand worldwide, with its scale measured in bottles sold rather than a single vintage or award. Black Tower sat within a business whose roots reached back to 1920, when Carl Reh senior began trading grape, must and wine in Leiwen in the Mosel valley. Decades later, the 1997 merger of Carl Reh and Hermann Kendermann created the Bingen-based Reh Kendermann Weinkellerei GmbH. Black Tower remains the company’s flagship, with annual sales exceeding 10 million bottles.

From the atlas

Reh Kendermann

At A Glance

Reh Kendermann is a Bingen-based German wine company working at international scale. Its flagship, Black Tower, sells more than 10 million bottles annually, while the range also includes dry Pfalz Riesling, Pinot Noir and lees-aged Riesling bottlings with more specific grape and origin cues.

The Producer

Reh Kendermann describes itself as Germany’s largest export winery. Bingen is the company’s working centre for winemaking, bottling, storage, sales and administration, so its bottles are shaped by a cellar and distribution operation rather than by one village estate. Black Tower carries that scale into a widely available branded range; Kalkstein Riesling and Pinot Noir Terra Quartär bring grape and regional origin closer to the front label.

Place

Bingen is the operational base, but Reh Kendermann’s structure extends to Böchingen, Leiwen and Gau-Bickelheim. That multi-site footprint matters because the company can build different wine styles from several German sources rather than asking one vineyard area to do every job. On the bottle, Pfalz appears directly on Kalkstein Riesling, making the region part of the wine’s description rather than a background detail.

Soil And Site

Pfalz Kalkstein Riesling names both a region and a grape: dry Riesling from the Pfalz. Pinot Noir Terra Quartär adds a stated soil context to its Pinot Noir description, putting ground alongside variety as part of the red wine’s frame. Neither bottle is presented as a single-vineyard wine, so the useful distinction is clear labelling of origin and soil context, not an invented parcel story.

Story

The business began in 1920, when Carl Reh senior established a grape, must and wine trading company in Leiwen in the Mosel valley. In 1936 he acquired quality-capable Mosel vineyards and adopted neutral glass-lined storage tanks, joining vineyard supply to controlled storage. Carl Reh and Hermann Kendermann merged their businesses in 1997 to form the Bingen-based company; Andrea and Carl Reh took full ownership in 1999. The present range still reflects that history: sourcing, cellar work, bottling and branded wines belong to the same operation.

Vineyards And Cellar

Reh Kendermann works through grape sourcing and grower relationships, with harvest monitoring and blending among the tools used to shape its wines. The cellar also handles filtration, stabilisation, storage and bottling in Bingen, allowing a large-volume brand such as Black Tower and more grape-specific wines to be made within the same business. In Kalkstein Riesling, fine-lees ageing adds texture after fermentation while no oak is used, keeping apple, grapefruit and citrus in the foreground rather than covering them with barrel flavour.

Wines

Black Tower is divided into Classic, Club Edition and Bubbly ranges, separating everyday still wines, a more styled club range and sparkling wines rather than giving every label one fixed taste. Alongside it, Pfalz Kalkstein Riesling is a dry Riesling with fine-lees ageing and no oak; its fruit profile centres on apple, grapefruit and citrus. Pinot Noir Terra Quartär gives the range a red-wine lane, pairing Pinot Noir with a stated soil context. Club Edition Riesling is another distinct expression, using lees ageing for more texture and structure around its fruit character.

In The Glass

Kalkstein Riesling begins with apple, grapefruit and citrus, then stays dry on the palate. Fine lees broaden the texture without adding oak flavour, so the fruit remains clean and direct through the finish. With age, its documented fruit register can turn from fresh apple and citrus toward baked apple, honey and ripe melon. Club Edition Riesling approaches the grape differently: lees ageing places more weight and texture around its fruit, making it a fuller-shaped alternative rather than a duplicate of Kalkstein.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Pfalz Kalkstein Riesling. It states its essentials plainly: Riesling, Pfalz, dry style, fine-lees ageing and no oak. In youth, expect apple, grapefruit and citrus with a dry, lightly textured palate; later development can bring baked apple, honey and ripe melon. It is the bottle that makes Reh Kendermann’s broader structure easiest to read: a large Bingen-based company using its cellar work to present a clearly named grape and regional origin without burying the fruit beneath barrel character.

Anecdote

In 2008, Black Tower’s reported sales reached 12 million bottles. The wine had grown from a Reh Kendermann flagship into the best-selling German wine brand worldwide, a result measured in bottles rather than in a single award or vintage. The figure arrived decades after Carl Reh senior began trading grape, must and wine in Leiwen, and after the company’s later move into the Bingen-based form created by the 1997 merger. Black Tower’s large annual sales remain central to Reh Kendermann’s present-day range.

Final Word

Reh Kendermann makes sense through contrast: Black Tower shows the company’s international reach, while Kalkstein Riesling, Pinot Noir Terra Quartär and Club Edition Riesling show how grape, region, lees and soil context can change the bottle in hand. For dry white wine, Kalkstein is the clearest place to begin.

Sources

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