Germany · Rheinhessen

Weingut Bergkloster

A fifth-generation Westhofen family estate where Jason Groebe makes low-intervention wines, including the dry, lightly cloudy Super Lecka red.

The producer

Weingut Bergkloster is a nine-hectare family estate in Westhofen, Rheinhessen, led by fifth-generation winemaker Jason Groebe. Its vines extend through Kirchspiel, Morstein, Aulerde and Steingrube, across limestone, clay, marl and deep loess. Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot varieties share the estate with Sankt Laurent and Bacchus, allowing both varietal wines and mixed-grape bottlings.

Super Lecka shows the more playful end of that range. The 2022 dry red combines Regent, Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent with Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. At 10.5% alcohol, it brings juicy cherry, rhubarb, blackcurrant and floral notes over lively acidity, with a lightly cloudy appearance from its unfiltered presentation.

Known for

Westhofen-grown, low-intervention wines from a varied grape palette, led by the dry red-and-white-grape blend Super Lecka.

Notable facts

The story

The first bottles under Jason Groebe’s label

Jason Groebe studied winemaking at Geisenheim and spent years working in the family vineyards before making his first vintage in 2014. He continued working toward the style he wanted from the fruit, while his parents gave him room to pursue it at the Westhofen estate. In 2018, Groebe bottled his first wines under his own label. That year also marks the reported shift to wines made without filtration, fining or added sulfites. The bottles came from a family property with more than 120 years of history, but carried the work of its fifth-generation winemaker and his own cellar decisions.

From the atlas

Weingut Bergkloster

At A Glance

The Producer

Weingut Bergkloster is a family winery in Westhofen, now led into its fifth generation by Jason Groebe. The estate has more than 120 years of family history, but its present wines carry Groebe’s own direction: he studied winemaking at Geisenheim, spent years working in the vineyards, and took responsibility for a small holding spread across several Westhofen sites. That combination puts Riesling and Pinot varieties beside a red blend such as Super Lecka, where red and white grapes meet in one dry bottle.

Place

Westhofen sits in Rheinhessen, and Bergkloster’s nine hectares extend around the village through Kirchspiel, Morstein, Aulerde and Steingrube. Those names matter on a Bergkloster bottle because they locate the fruit within a compact Westhofen holding rather than in a broad regional blend. The estate grows both white and red grapes there, so place is not used to narrow the range to one style: it supplies fruit for Riesling, Pinot wines and the mixed-grape Super Lecka.

Soil And Site

Limestone, clay, marl and deep loess occur across Bergkloster’s vineyards. The estate therefore farms vines on more than one physical ground type within its nine hectares, rather than treating Westhofen as a single uniform site. The consequence in the cellar is a varied pool of fruit: grapes from named parcels can remain distinct where needed, while a wine such as Super Lecka can bring several varieties into one lively, low-alcohol red.

Story

Jason Groebe inherited a family estate but did not simply repeat its earlier cellar routine. After Geisenheim and years in the vines, he moved toward wines made with less handling; the family gave him room to pursue that direction. His early work developed into a fully low-intervention approach in 2018, reported without filtration, fining or added sulfites. That decision has a visible consequence in wines such as Super Lecka, which is listed as lightly cloudy rather than cleared to a bright, conventional appearance.

Vineyards And Cellar

Bergkloster is reported as organically certified since 2006, with vineyards worked without chemical or synthetic pesticides. On nine hectares, that approach is practical as well as philosophical: Jason Groebe can work closely with fruit from Westhofen’s limestone, clay, marl and loess soils before deciding whether it belongs in a varietal wine or a blend. The estate’s grape list—from Riesling and Chardonnay to Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent—gives that farming a broad set of possible results.

In the cellar, the reported approach uses no added yeast and minimal sulfur intervention; from 2018, the wines were made without filtration, fining or added sulfites. These choices leave more of the wine’s original material in bottle, which helps explain the lightly cloudy appearance documented for Super Lecka 2022. One retailer’s account of a Super Lecka release also describes Pinot Noir fermented in an open vat, then a split between large oak and stainless steel before bottling after nine months. That is release-specific detail, not a rule for every Bergkloster wine.

Wines

The recorded range includes white, red, rosé and orange wines, with Chardonnay and Riesling among the whites. At the red end, Super Lecka is the estate’s entry-level cuvée: a bottle built for fruit and lively acidity rather than a single-grape statement. Its role is useful because it brings Bergkloster’s mixed planting and low-intervention cellar work into a wine meant to be opened young.

Super Lecka 2022 is a dry, still red made from hand-picked estate grapes. Its blend is 30% Regent, 30% Pinot Noir and 20% Sankt Laurent, with 5% each Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. The red grapes supply the main body and fruit, while the four white varieties make up a fifth of the blend. It is a deliberately mixed composition, and its lightly cloudy appearance belongs to the wine’s unfiltered presentation rather than to sweetness: the listing describes it as dry.

In The Glass

Super Lecka opens on juicy cherry, rhubarb and blackcurrant, with floral notes above the fruit. The palate is dry and light in body at 10.5% alcohol, then lifted by lively acidity rather than weighted down by alcohol or heavy oak. Regent, Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent form the red core, while the small white-grape portion keeps the blend from reading like a standard single-variety red. The finish is long, fresh and fruit-led; serve it not too cold so the floral detail and texture can show.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Super Lecka 2022. It is a dry, still, lightly cloudy red at 10.5% alcohol, made from three red grapes and four white varieties: Regent, Pinot Noir, Sankt Laurent, Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. In the glass, expect cherry, rhubarb, blackcurrant, floral notes and brisk acidity. Its unusual blend makes the Westhofen estate’s broad planting visible, while its unfiltered look and low-intervention handling bring Jason Groebe’s cellar direction into immediate view.

Anecdote

After studying winemaking at Geisenheim and spending years working in the family vineyards, Jason Groebe began making his own wines. He made his first vintage in 2014, then kept working toward a style that felt closer to what he wanted from the fruit. In 2018, with his parents giving him a free hand at the family estate, Groebe bottled his first wines under his own label. The same year marks the reported move to wines made without filtration, fining or added sulfites. The first bottles under his name came from a Westhofen estate that had already been in the family for more than 120 years.

Final Word

Bergkloster is worth seeking out for the meeting of old family ground and young cellar choices. Westhofen sites, a varied grape palette and a small nine-hectare scale provide the material; Super Lecka turns it into a dry red with cherry fruit, floral notes, lively acidity and a deliberately unfiltered look.

Sources

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