Germany · Rheingau

Weingut August Kesseler

A Rheingau estate in Assmannshausen, pairing slate-grown Pinot Noir with dry Riesling from classified vineyards across the region.

The producer

Weingut August Kesseler began in 1924, when Josef Kesseler took over Assmannshausen’s former winegrowers’ cooperative. August Kesseler has led the estate since 1977, and its 33 hectares are planted to Riesling and Pinot Noir. Höllenberg, a 45% slope of sparse, heat-retaining slate, supplies the estate’s Pinot Noir; Riesling comes from holdings across the Rheingau, including Rüdesheim, Lorch and Lorchhausen.

The range starts with The Daily August Riesling and Pinot Noir, then moves through village wines to Grosse Gewächse. The Daily August Riesling brings apple, lemon, lime, pear, wet stone and flint over bright acidity and a light body. At the red end, Assmannshausen Höllenberg GG Pinot Noir is dry and dark-fruited, with cassis, blackberry and cherry, balanced tannin, silky texture and a mineral finish.

Known for

Slate-grown Pinot Noir from Assmannshausen, alongside dry Riesling from classified Rheingau sites.

Notable facts

The story

A Change Of Course At Nineteen

August Kesseler has said that he wanted to become a motor-racing driver. The early death of his parents changed that plan, and he succeeded them at the family winery when he was 19. The estate in Assmannshausen already had a history: Josef Kesseler had laid its foundation in 1924 by taking over the former winegrowers’ cooperative. August later became responsible for the estate in 1977 and gained practical experience in France, Italy and the United States. His work now extends from Pinot Noir on Assmannshausen’s Höllenberg slate slope to Riesling from sites in Rüdesheim, Lorch and Lorchhausen.

From the atlas

Weingut August Kesseler

At A Glance

Weingut August Kesseler works from Assmannshausen in the lower Rheingau, with 33 hectares of Riesling and Pinot Noir reported by the estate. Its vineyards are all classified as VDP.ERSTE LAGE or VDP.GROSSE LAGE, so the range moves from The Daily August wines into village bottlings and site-labelled Grosse Gewächse. The key contrast is slate-grown Pinot Noir from Assmannshausen and dry Riesling from holdings across the Rheingau.

The Producer

Josef Kesseler laid the estate’s foundation in 1924 when he took over Assmannshausen’s former winegrowers’ cooperative. August Kesseler has been responsible since 1977, after practical experience in France, Italy and the United States. That history now lands in a two-grape cellar: Pinot Noir carries the steep red-wine slopes around Assmannshausen, while Riesling follows sites stretching through Eltville, Erbach, Rüdesheim, Lorch and Lorchhausen.

Place

Assmannshausen sits in the lower Rheingau, where the Rhine valley narrows and vineyard slopes steepen. Pinot Noir is central here because the estate’s Höllenberg parcels combine slope with sparse slate that holds heat, helping fruit reach ripeness while retaining the firm shape needed for dry red wine. Riesling comes from a broader set of Rheingau sites, so its labels move from regional fruit in The Daily August to named slopes such as Rüdesheim Berg Schlossberg and Lorchhausen Seligmacher.

Soil And Site

Assmannshäuser Höllenberg is a 45% slope of sparse, heat-retaining slate. Pinot Noir from this ground is bottled as Höllenberg GG, with the dry 2024 showing cassis, blackberry and cherry over balanced tannin, fine mineral character and a silky texture.

Rüdesheim Berg Schlossberg is steeper still, reaching a 65% gradient, with Taunus quartzite and phyllitic slate. It appears in both Riesling and Pinot Noir, making the vineyard name more than decoration: the same slope is interpreted through two grapes with different body, fruit and tannin profiles. Lorchhausen Seligmacher stands at 160 metres on a 60% slate incline; the estate says no other VDP winery manages this site, and its Riesling becomes a Grosse Gewächs.

Story

In the 1980s, August Kesseler and Max Himstedt set out to revive Assmannshausen’s reputation for balanced wines. The work had a practical direction: steep Pinot Noir sites such as Höllenberg were treated as places worth bottling under their own names, rather than merely supplying an undifferentiated red blend. Kesseler’s experience abroad also sits behind a cellar approach that separates small parcels before blending, allowing a Daily wine to combine fruit from several sites while a GG keeps a single slope in focus.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate vinifies its vineyard parcels separately, then uses blending where the wine calls for it. For The Daily August Riesling, the 2023 fruit from Eltville and Erbach was handled in separate lots in stainless steel before blending; the result is a light-bodied dry Riesling with apple, lemon, lime and pear rather than oak weight. A 2025 release also spent three months in stainless steel, keeping blood orange, red plum and lavender close to the surface while juicy acidity carries the finish.

Stainless-steel tanks and French oak barriques both have roles at the estate. The vessel choice matters most in the glass: steel can keep Riesling’s citrus fruit and acidity clear, while Pinot Noir from sites such as Höllenberg can use oak as part of a broader texture alongside tannin, dark fruit and dry extract. Site-by-site work leaves the cellar with components whose soil and slope differences can remain visible after fermentation.

Wines

The range begins with The Daily August Riesling and Pinot Noir, then steps into village and vineyard wines. The Daily August Riesling uses classified-site fruit despite its broader sourcing; its light body, bright acidity and wet-stone finish make it the brisk white end of the range. The Daily August Pinot Noir is the more immediate red, though supplied reviews found the 2017 structured enough to age for a decade.

Assmannshausen Alte Reben Cuvée Max is a VDP.ORTSWEIN Pinot Noir, placing old-vine fruit from the village between the daily red and the Grosse Gewächse. Above it, Assmannshausen Höllenberg GG narrows the focus to Pinot Noir from the slate slope, while Rüdesheim Berg Schlossberg GG exists in both Pinot Noir and Riesling. The Riesling side also includes Lorch, Rüdesheim Berg Roseneck GG, Rüdesheim Berg Schlossberg GG and Lorchhausen Seligmacher Riesling GG, each label tying the wine to a named Rheingau place.

In The Glass

The Daily August Riesling opens with apple, lemon, lime and pear, followed by wet stone and flint. Its light body and bright acidity come from separately handled Riesling parcels and stainless-steel ageing, while the mineral finish keeps the fruit dry and clean. The 2025 note adds blood orange, red plum and lavender, with tactile mineral texture and a small sweet-fruited note at the end; that wine carried 7 grams per litre of residual sugar.

Höllenberg GG Pinot Noir moves toward darker fruit: cassis, blackberry and cherry. The 45% slate slope is the physical setting for a dry, 13% alcohol red with balanced tannin, silky texture and a mineral line through the finish. It is a different kind of weight from the Daily Pinot Noir: less about early fruit and more about tannin, texture and time.

A Bottle To Understand It

Assmannshausen Höllenberg GG Pinot Noir is the bottle to start with when the aim is to meet Kesseler’s red-wine side at full site definition. It is a dry VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS from Pinot Noir on Höllenberg’s 45% heat-retaining slate slope, and its cassis, blackberry and cherry fruit is held by balanced tannin and a silky, mineral texture. The bottle brings Assmannshausen, steep slate, Pinot Noir and the estate’s parcel-led approach into one glass without needing a catalogue of labels.

Anecdote

August Kesseler has said that he originally wanted to become a motor-racing driver. The early death of his parents changed that plan: at 19, he succeeded them at the winery. He would later take responsibility for the estate in 1977 and draw practical experience from France, Italy and the United States, but the first turn came in Assmannshausen, when the family winery needed him rather than a race seat. The estate he inherited had begun with Josef Kesseler’s 1924 takeover of the former winegrowers’ cooperative, and its work now includes Pinot Noir from Höllenberg and Riesling from classified sites across the Rheingau.

Final Word

Seek out Kesseler for the contrast within one cellar: a light, citrus-led Riesling from loess-loam sources can sit beside dry Pinot Noir from a slate slope above Assmannshausen. Höllenberg GG makes the strongest first case for the red wines; The Daily August Riesling shows how the estate handles a more immediate white.

Sources

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