Germany · Rheingau

Weingut August Eser

A family-run Rheingau estate in Oestrich, August Eser makes Riesling from 17 named sites across eight villages, alongside a small oak-aged Spätburgunder range.

The producer

Since 1759, the Eser family has worked from the historic centre of Oestrich. Désirée Eser Freifrau zu Knyphausen, the family’s tenth-generation winemaker, runs the estate with Dodo Freiherr zu Knyphausen. Its 17 named sites span eight Rheingau villages, so village and vineyard names direct Riesling toward different ground, slopes and ripening conditions.

Riesling accounts for about 95% of the vineyards, moving from dry and off-dry wines to Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. The remaining Pinot Noir becomes Spätburgunder: the 2020 Mittelheim trocken spent six months in oak, bringing cherry and raspberry fruit, a light caramel note, juicy texture and fresh acidity.

Known for

Rheingau Riesling across dry, off-dry and sweet styles, with a small oak-aged Spätburgunder line.

Notable facts

The story

The 2007 Handover

After studying wine business at Geisenheim University and the University of California, Davis, and completing internships in wine regions, Désirée Eser Freifrau zu Knyphausen took over August Eser from her parents in 2007. She became the tenth generation of the Eser family to lead the Oestrich estate, whose ownership reaches back to 1759, and the first woman in that family succession to make wine there. She runs the winery with her husband, Dodo Freiherr zu Knyphausen, who also studied at Geisenheim. Together they oversee Riesling from sites across eight Rheingau villages, with a smaller Spätburgunder line matured in wooden barrels and barriques.

From the atlas

Weingut August Eser

At A Glance

Weingut August Eser is a family estate in the historic centre of Oestrich, in Germany’s Rheingau. The family has owned it since 1759, while Désirée Eser Freifrau zu Knyphausen and her husband, Dodo Freiherr zu Knyphausen, run it today. Riesling accounts for about 95% of the vineyards, so the range moves through dry, off-dry and sweet Rheingau expressions; the remaining Pinot Noir becomes Spätburgunder, including oak-aged reds such as the 2020 Mittelheim Spätburgunder trocken.

The Producer

August Eser works about 11 hectares across 17 named vineyard sites in eight Rheingau villages. That spread matters because a Riesling label can lead from Oestrich’s Doosberg or Lenchen to Rauenthal’s Rothenberg, rather than treating the whole region as one flavour. The estate’s historic building, with its vaulted cellar, keeps the practical work of fermentation and maturation close to its long family history.

Désirée took over from her parents in 2007 as the family’s tenth-generation winemaker and its first woman to lead the cellar. She and Dodo now oversee a range in which Riesling is the main language, from dry wines to Trockenbeerenauslese, while a small Spätburgunder holding brings cherry fruit, oak and tannin into the picture.

Place

Oestrich sits in the Rheingau, where the estate’s sites include south-facing vineyards along the Rhine. The river-facing setting and the estate’s reach across eight villages give Riesling more than one route to ripeness: a wine labelled from Oestrich can carry a different village name and site than one from Rauenthal or Winkel.

Doosberg and Lenchen are in Oestrich; Rothenberg is in Rauenthal; Hasensprung and Jesuitengarten are in Winkel. Those names are not decorative extras on a label. They locate a Riesling within the estate’s dispersed holdings, while the stated sweetness level—trocken, Kabinett, Spätlese or Auslese—signals how dry or sweet that particular bottle will be.

Soil And Site

Sand, loess, marl, slate and meadow soils run through August Eser’s vineyards, with slopes ranging from gentle to steep. That physical variation changes how vines root and how water moves through a site, so the estate is working Riesling across several ground conditions rather than chasing one uniform result.

Cover crops have been used to build humus for two decades. By maintaining soil vitality between the vines, the estate aims to support the ground that supplies fruit to both dry Riesling and the later-picked grapes needed for sweeter Prädikat wines.

Story

The Eser family’s ownership since 1759 gives the estate a long address in Oestrich, but the working shape of the winery is contemporary: one household manages parcels across eight villages and translates them into bottles at several sweetness levels. A dry Riesling, a Kabinett and a Trockenbeerenauslese therefore begin with the same central grape but reach the glass with very different amounts of residual sugar and weight.

The estate has also kept Pinot Noir as a smaller, deliberate part of the vineyards. At about 5% of plantings, Spätburgunder does not compete with Riesling for volume; it broadens the cellar’s materials, allowing wooden barrels and barriques to bring oak, texture and tannin to a red-wine line beside the citrus-led white wines.

Vineyards And Cellar

August Eser’s vineyard work combines cover crops and humus-building with hand harvesting, while the cellar uses a historic vaulted space for maturation. The consequence is not a single fixed style: fruit from different villages and soils can be kept distinct through the range, while ripeness determines whether a Riesling is finished dry, off-dry or sweet.

For Pinot Noir, the estate uses traditional German wooden barrels as well as barriques. The documented 2020 Mittelheim Spätburgunder trocken spent six months in oak, a period that adds a faint caramel note and rounds the fruit without turning the wine into a heavily woody red.

Wines

Riesling provides the range’s backbone. Dry and off-dry wines place acidity, citrus fruit and a savoury or mineral edge at the centre, while Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese and Trockenbeerenauslese bring progressively sweeter expressions into view. Acidity is the key counterweight: it keeps residual sugar from simply feeling broad, and gives the sweeter wines a fresher finish.

The named-site and village Rieslings add another layer. Doosberg, Lenchen, Rothenberg, Hasensprung, Jesuitengarten, Nussbrunnen and Wisselbrunnen connect a bottle to a particular holding, while the label’s ripeness designation indicates its dry or sweet direction. Riesling sparkling wine extends the grape into a wine where mousse, acidity and fruit take the place of still-wine weight.

Spätburgunder is the compact red wing of the estate. The 2020 Mittelheim bottling shows how Pinot Noir can carry cherry and raspberry fruit alongside oak-derived caramel, with enough fresh acidity to keep the palate lively.

In The Glass

The 2020 Mittelheim Spätburgunder trocken opens with cherry kernel, cherry blossom and raspberry, followed by a light caramel note and an herbal-candy edge. On the palate it is juicy rather than thick, with fresh red fruit, mineral detail and a lively finish. Its six months in oak account for the gentle barrel seasoning, while Pinot Noir supplies the fruit and fresh acidity.

Across the Riesling range, dryness and sweetness are the important dividing lines. The dry wines are built around acidity, citrus and savoury length; the sweeter Prädikat wines bring more residual sugar, then rely on acidity to keep their fruit and sweetness moving across the finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the 2020 Mittelheim Spätburgunder trocken. It is a dry Pinot Noir at 13.5% alcohol with only 1.7 grams per litre of residual sugar, and its six months in oak make the estate’s red-wine method easy to read. Expect red-cherry fruit, a juicy medium-bodied palate, light oak warmth and a fresh finish. It offers a direct view of the estate beyond Riesling while remaining rooted in a named Rheingau place.

Anecdote

After studying wine business at Geisenheim University and the University of California, Davis, and completing internships in wine regions, Désirée Eser Freifrau zu Knyphausen returned to the family winery. In 2007, she took over from her parents at August Eser, becoming the tenth generation of the Eser family to lead the estate and the first female winemaker in that succession. The family had owned the Oestrich winery since 1759. Désirée continued the work with her husband, Dodo Freiherr zu Knyphausen, who had also studied at Geisenheim, while the cellar continued to handle Riesling from sites spread across the Rheingau.

Final Word

August Eser is most useful to approach through its contrasts: Riesling across several villages, from dry citrus and acidity to sweet late-harvest styles, alongside a small Pinot Noir line shaped by six months of oak. The labels reward attention to village, named site and sweetness level.

Sources

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