Germany · Rheingau

Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn

A long-established Oestrich-Winkel estate making Rheingau Riesling from estate fruit to named sites, with native fermentation, gentle pressing and patient cellar ageing.

The producer

Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn was founded in Oestrich-Winkel in 1786 and is now run by Peter Bernhard Kühn and Viktoria Kühn. Riesling accounts for 95% of its plantings, carrying the range from the dry Jacobus Gutsriesling to vineyard-labelled wines from Klosterberg and Jungfer; the different soils, slopes and exposures give each label a distinct ripening pattern and shape in the glass.

Hand-picked grapes are gently pressed, fermented with native yeasts and matured in traditional wood or clay amphorae without fining agents. That measured cellar work keeps dry Riesling’s citrus fruit and acidity in view while building texture and a savoury finish; site wines may remain in the cellar for up to three years before release.

Known for

Dry, site-led Rheingau Riesling, from Jacobus Gutsriesling to Klosterberg and Jungfer.

Notable facts

The story

From High Vineyards To Riesling Sekt

For the 2020 Riesling Sekt, Kühn began with grapes from its cooler, higher vineyards, picked with ripe, savoury fruit but without excessive sugar. The lower sugar level produced a relatively low-alcohol base wine, which was bottled with yeast in the summer after harvest. A second fermentation then took place inside each bottle, creating the sparkling wine there rather than in a tank. After fermentation, the bottles stayed on their lees for many months. The finished Brut combines dry Riesling acidity with a finer mousse, fuller flavour and the bouquet developed during that extended lees ageing.

From the atlas

Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn

At A Glance

Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn is a family estate in Oestrich-Winkel, in Germany’s middle Rheingau, founded by Jacobus Kühn in 1786. Peter Bernhard Kühn, the owner and cellarmaster, runs it with his wife Viktoria. Riesling accounts for 95% of plantings, so dry Riesling is the main thread from the Jacobus estate wine to named-site bottlings; the remaining 5% is Spätburgunder.

The Producer

Kühn has belonged to the VDP since 2002, placing its wines within a German classification that moves from estate and village bottlings towards increasingly site-specific wines. That structure matters here because the same Riesling grape is carried from broadly sourced estate fruit to labels such as Klosterberg and Jungfer, where soil, slope and exposure become more specific parts of the bottle’s character.

Place

The middle Rheingau gives Kühn a set of sites rather than one uniform landscape. South-west-facing vineyards such as Doosberg and Hendelberg receive afternoon light, while St. Nikolaus lies close to the Rhine, where the river’s heat and reflected light encourage earlier budding. Those differences affect ripening, so the estate can make dry Rieslings with freshness while drawing different weight and fruit shape from each vineyard.

Soil And Site

Klosterberg stands at about 160 metres on sandy, quartzite-rich loess, described by the family as an ancient Rhine beach deposit. It was planted at 10,000 vines per hectare in the mid-1990s; close spacing encourages roots to compete and limits the crop each vine carries, supporting a dry Riesling with concentration rather than broad, dilute fruit.

Elsewhere, Hendelberg brings Devon slate to steep, south-west-facing ground. Lenchen has clay-rich loess cut by red, iron-rich quartzite veins, while exposed Doosberg combines clay-rich loess with grey quartzite. These are not interchangeable names on a label: clay can hold water, quartzite and slate change the ground beneath the vines, and exposure changes how quickly grapes reach ripeness.

Story

The Kühn family has made wine in Oestrich-Winkel since Jacobus Kühn founded the estate in 1786. Under Peter Bernhard and Viktoria Kühn, that long continuity is expressed through biodynamic cultivation, followed here since 2004, and through a Riesling-led range that separates estate fruit from named vineyards. The result is not one house style imposed on every bottle, but a sequence in which the Jacobus Gutsriesling offers the estate’s handling of fruit and pressing, while Klosterberg and Jungfer carry more vineyard detail.

The work in the vineyard is practical: compost, mechanical weed control and measures for biodiversity are used instead of treating the ground as an empty surface beneath the vines. Healthier soils and managed cover in the rows are intended to support balanced vine growth; in the finished wines, that work is followed by hand harvesting and gentle pressing rather than a rushed extraction of juice.

Vineyards And Cellar

Grapes are hand-picked and pressed gently over several hours. Fermentation proceeds with native yeasts, without cultured yeast or fining agents, and the cellar uses traditional wooden barrels as well as clay amphorae. Those choices keep the fruit and site material at the centre of the wine while allowing texture to build during fermentation and ageing rather than through a strongly flavoured cellar treatment.

Release time also separates the range. Estate and village wines spend a full year in the cellar, while site-specific wines may remain there for as long as three years before sale. The longer stay gives the dry Rieslings time to settle after fermentation, so the bottle arrives with its acidity, fruit and lees-derived texture more integrated than it would immediately after harvest.

Wines

The Jacobus Gutsriesling is the estate-level dry Riesling, named for the 1786 founder and made from the estate’s own vineyards. Hand-picked grapes and gentle pressing lead into a wine intended to show Riesling’s acidity, citrus-led fruit and dry finish without requiring knowledge of a single vineyard.

Above it, Klosterberg is a VDP.ERSTE LAGE dry Riesling from its sandy, quartzite-rich loess site. Jungfer, from Hallgarten, is a VDP.GROSSE LAGE Riesling and therefore sits at the most site-specific end of the dry range. Kühn also makes sweet and noble-sweet Rieslings, alongside its small Spätburgunder contingent, so the estate is broader than dry white wine alone.

The 2020 Riesling Sekt Brut takes a different route. Fruit from cooler, higher vineyards is picked ripe but without excessive sugar, creating a relatively low-alcohol base wine. Secondary fermentation in bottle supplies the mousse; many months on lees add fuller flavour and a more harmonious bouquet.

In The Glass

Across the dry Rieslings, expect acidity to carry the palate rather than sweetness. The fruit can read as citrus, while native fermentation, time in wood or clay, and lees contact add texture and a savoury edge. The finish is dry and driven by acidity, with the named-site wines offering more weight and soil-shaped detail than the estate wine.

The 2020 Riesling Sekt brings the same grape into a sparkling form: ripe, savoury fruit forms the base, bottle fermentation adds lift, and extended lees ageing makes the mousse finer. Its body remains shaped by the lower-alcohol base wine, while the finish combines dry Riesling acidity with the creamy texture developed on lees.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Jacobus Gutsriesling. It is dry Riesling from the estate’s own vineyards, hand-picked and gently pressed, and it puts the central grape before the distinctions of individual sites. Its citrus fruit, firm acidity, dry palate and clean finish show the basic Kühn equation: Rheingau Riesling, careful harvesting, native fermentation and time for the wine to settle before release.

Anecdote

For the 2020 Riesling Sekt, Kühn began in its cooler, higher vineyards, picking grapes with ripe, savoury fruit but without too much sugar. That allowed the estate to make a relatively low-alcohol base wine before the next stage. In the summer after harvest, the wine was bottled with yeast, starting a second fermentation inside each bottle and creating the sparkle there rather than in a tank. Once fermentation had finished, the bottles remained on their lees for many months. The producer links that extended contact with a fuller flavour, a more harmonious bouquet and finer mousse, turning a still base wine from high vineyards into a Brut Riesling Sekt.

Final Word

Kühn is worth seeking out for dry Rheingau Riesling whose labels lead from an accessible estate wine to distinct vineyard ground. Begin with Jacobus, then move to Klosterberg or Jungfer when the difference between estate fruit and a named site is the question in the glass.

Sources

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