Germany · Rheinhessen

St Antony Weingut

Nierstein’s Roten Hang, worked through dry Riesling, Blaufränkisch and Pinot Noir.

The producer

St. Antony works the steep Roten Hang vineyards around Nierstein, where red slate, calcareous marl and Rhine-side exposures shape a range led by Riesling. The dry 2023 Riesling Rotschiefer brings fruit from Pettenthal, Orbel, Hipping and Ölberg into one bottle: citrus, grapefruit and nectarine meet juicy acidity, savoury spice and a firm, extract-driven texture.

Dirk Würtz leads the estate, which has been in its present family ownership since 2005. Organic farming has been certified since 2006, Demeter certification began with the 2018 vintage, and steep parcels have been worked by hand since 2019. Beyond Riesling, Blaufränkisch moves from a dry Pinot Noir–Blaufränkisch rosé with raspberry and cherry to a darker, barrel-aged Nierstein red with blackberry, tobacco and tannin.

Known for

Dry Roten Hang Riesling, alongside Blaufränkisch in both rosé and red-wine forms.

Notable facts

The story

The 2019 hand-work decision

With the 2019 vintage, St. Antony stopped using machines in every steep-slope parcel it worked on the Roten Hang. The estate had already farmed under certified-organic standards since 2006 and became Demeter-certified with the 2018 vintage. From 2019, work in those steep sites moved to hand labour: tasks that had depended on machine access were carried out by people on the slope. The change applied across the estate’s steep parcels, rather than to one trial block, and formed part of the routine behind fruit from holdings including Pettenthal, Hipping, Orbel and Ölberg.

From the atlas

St Antony Weingut

At A Glance

St. Antony Weingut is based in Nierstein, Rheinhessen, and works a substantial group of vineyards on the Roten Hang beside the Rhine. Riesling is its main grape, with Pinot Noir, Blaufränkisch, Chardonnay and Weissburgunder extending the range. The result runs from a dry, multi-site Riesling to named-site wines and red or rosé bottles with a markedly different fruit and tannin profile.

The Producer

Dirk Würtz is managing director and winemaker, with Robert Borenstein as cellar master. St. Antony joined the VDP in 1990, has farmed under certified-organic standards since 2006 and gained Demeter certification from the 2018 vintage. Its Riesling work joins red-slate sites around Nierstein to bottles that can be broad and citrus-led or tied closely to a single vineyard.

Place

Nierstein’s Roten Hang is the estate’s central address: steep vineyard land beside the Rhine, where Riesling has the warmth to develop citrus and stone-fruit character while retaining acidity. St. Antony divides this fruit between its dry Rotschiefer bottling and Grosses Gewächs wines, so a label can signal whether the wine comes from several Roten Hang sites or a more narrowly defined vineyard source.

Soil And Site

Red slate and calcareous marl are the two geological threads cited across the estate. Pettenthal, where St. Antony owns nearly 10 hectares, is marked by bare red slate; Zehnmorgen combines limestone and clay. Those physical differences sit behind a range built from more than one register of Riesling rather than one uniform house style.

Cooler and more exposed parcels add further variation. A northern-facing section of Hipping, cooler night air in Orbel, and windy limestone at Paterberg can preserve freshness in the fruit, while Pettenthal brings the red-slate component into the estate’s wines. Brudersberg joined the portfolio in 2006, and both Brudersberg and Zehnmorgen are monopoly sites for St. Antony.

Story

The estate says its first vintage was 1918 and its official founding in Nierstein followed in 1920, under Gute Hoffnungshütte. Present family ownership began with the 2005 purchase and was followed by continued investment in Roten Hang parcels. The effect is visible in the bottle line: a large holding in Pettenthal, added Brudersberg land and other named sites give the cellar fruit for both blended Riesling and vineyard-specific releases.

Vineyards And Cellar

Organic farming became certified in 2006, Demeter certification arrived with the 2018 vintage, and from 2019 St. Antony removed machine work from every steep-slope parcel. Hand work is particularly relevant where slope limits access: grapes can be handled parcel by parcel before they become part of Rotschiefer or a site wine.

The estate uses spontaneous fermentation and gentle handling in the cellar. For the 2021 Nierstein Blaufränkisch, fruit from Pettenthal and Ölberg was hand-picked, destemmed, fermented on the skins and aged for a year in wooden barrels. Skin contact supplies colour and tannin; the year in wood supports the wine’s darker fruit and tobacco notes without turning it into an oak-led red.

Wines

Riesling provides the spine of the range. The 2023 Riesling Rotschiefer is dry, 100% Riesling from Pettenthal, Orbel, Hipping and Ölberg: a multi-site wine carrying a wider slice of the Roten Hang than the Grosses Gewächs wines. Its warm citrus, savoury spice and extract give it more weight than a simple light white while leaving acidity active on the palate.

Blaufränkisch takes two forms. The 2021 Nierstein Blaufränkisch is a red with cherry, blackberry and tobacco, shaped by skin fermentation, tannin and barrel ageing. The 2022 St. Antony Rosé combines Pinot Noir and Blaufränkisch; it is dry and medium-bodied, with 11.5% alcohol, red berries and white flowers, plus raspberry and cherry on the palate. Its 6.9 g/l acidity keeps the residual sugar of 8.7 g/l from reading as heavy.

In The Glass

In Riesling Rotschiefer, expect pink grapefruit, orange, kumquat, mandarin and nectarine before a lightly acidic palate takes over. The mouthfeel is juicy but tactile, with savoury spice and extract carrying the finish beyond the first citrus impression. The mixed vineyard sourcing brings several Roten Hang parcels into one dry wine.

The red Blaufränkisch moves toward blackberry, cherry and tobacco, with skin-derived grip and a longer, structured finish. The rosé is lighter in body: strawberry, orange, resin and baked-apple notes have also been recorded, with fruit acidity, a small sweetness and a noticeable spritz. Pinot Noir and Blaufränkisch keep its fruit in the red-berry register rather than the dark-fruited profile of the red.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the 2023 Riesling Rotschiefer. It is dry Riesling drawn from Pettenthal, Orbel, Hipping and Ölberg, so one bottle brings together red slate, cooler exposures and the estate’s broader Roten Hang holdings. Citrus and nectarine lead, then grapefruit, savoury spice, acidity and a firm extract-driven texture take the wine into a long finish. It shows how St. Antony turns several named sites into a single, coherent white.

Anecdote

With the 2019 vintage, St. Antony stopped using machines in every one of its steep-slope parcels. The estate had already worked under certified-organic standards since 2006 and had become Demeter-certified with the 2018 vintage. From 2019, the steep sites were worked by hand instead: vineyard tasks on the Roten Hang moved from machine access to people on the slope. The change covered the estate’s steep parcels rather than one experimental block, putting hand work into the routine behind fruit from holdings such as Pettenthal, Hipping, Orbel and Ölberg.

Final Word

St. Antony’s bottles begin with Nierstein Riesling and red slate, then branch into limestone, cooler exposures, Pinot Noir and Blaufränkisch. Rotschiefer offers the broad view; the named sites and reds show how much material sits behind it.

Sources

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