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Weingut Schloss Schönberg

A young Bensheim estate pairing Hessische Bergstraße granite and loess with Spätburgunder, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Silvaner.

The producer

Weingut Schloss Schönberg works from Bensheim in Germany’s Hessische Bergstraße, where Jürgen and Petra Streit own an estate led in the cellar by managing director and winemaker Julien Meissner. Rabea Trautmann oversees vineyard work. Burgundy varieties sit beside Riesling and Silvaner, with granite, loess and named sites providing the ground beneath a dry, site-led range.

Schönberg Spätburgunder vom Granit 2022 shows the approach in red: 100% Spätburgunder, picked early by hand, fermented with natural yeasts, made with 70% whole clusters and matured in used wood. Cassis, cherry and spice meet a taut, slender palate, dry tannin and a cool, savoury finish.

Known for

Dry, site-led Hessische Bergstraße wines, with Spätburgunder at the centre of a Burgundy-variety, Riesling and Silvaner range.

Notable facts

The story

The two purchases of 2013

In 2013, Jürgen Streit and Petra Greißl-Streit bought the former Hessian state domain in Bensheim. Shortly afterwards, they bought the Renaissance castle in Schönberg together with the vineyards around it. The purchases brought a working winery in Bensheim and a castle property in Schönberg under the same ownership, linking cellar work to vines above the town. The estate dates its arrival in Hessische Bergstraße as the region’s youngest winery to 2016. Its bottles now carry the Schloss Schönberg name, while the vineyard work extends through sites around Bensheim, Auerbach and Schönberg.

The two purchases of 2013

In 2013, Jürgen Streit and Petra Greißl-Streit bought the former Hessian state domain in Bensheim. Shortly afterwards, they bought the Renaissance castle in Schönberg together with the vineyards around it. The purchases brought a working winery in Bensheim and a castle property in Schönberg under the same ownership, linking cellar work to vines above the town. The estate dates its arrival in Hessische Bergstraße as the region’s youngest winery to 2016. Its bottles now carry the Schloss Schönberg name, while the vineyard work extends through sites around Bensheim, Auerbach and Schönberg.

From the atlas

Weingut Schloss Schönberg

At A Glance

Weingut Schloss Schönberg is a young estate in Bensheim, in Germany’s Hessische Bergstraße. Jürgen and Petra Streit own it; Julien Meissner is managing director and winemaker, while Rabea Trautmann handles vineyard work. The range brings Spätburgunder, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Silvaner into contact with granite, loess and other local soils.

The clearest bottle is Schönberg Spätburgunder vom Granit 2022: a dry, 100% Spätburgunder made from early hand-picked fruit, with natural-yeast fermentation, 70% whole clusters and ageing in used wood. Cassis, cherry and spice lead into a slim red with cool fruit and firm shape.

The Producer

Schloss Schönberg works from Zwischen den Bächen 23–25 in Bensheim, a town on the Hessische Bergstraße. Meissner joined the team in 2018 after posts at Weingut am Nil and Weingut J. Neus; his work in the cellar sits alongside Trautmann’s vineyard role. That division matters in a range whose wines are made parcel by parcel, so a named soil or vineyard can remain present from harvest through fermentation and wood ageing.

The estate is described as comparatively young, but its grapes follow two tracks. Burgundy varieties, especially Spätburgunder, supply red fruit, tannin and body; Riesling and Silvaner keep dry white wines in the picture. Rather than treating those grapes as separate brands, Schloss Schönberg uses them to show several faces of the same small region.

Place

Hessische Bergstraße is Germany’s smallest wine region, and Riesling is its dominant grape. Schloss Schönberg sits in Bensheim within that dry-wine landscape, yet its range extends into the Pinot family as well as Silvaner. The result is not a Riesling-only cellar: dry white wines can carry citrus, acidity and texture, while Spätburgunder gives the estate a red-wine language of cherry fruit, spice and grip.

Its vineyards include sites around Auerbach, Bensheim and Schönberg, with names such as Auerbacher Fürstenlager, Auerbacher Höllberg, Zwingenberger Alte Burg, Bensheimer Hemsberg and Schönberger Herrnwingert appearing in current material. Site lists vary, so they are better understood as part of a dispersed holding than as a fixed hierarchy. For the bottle drinker, the useful clue is on the label: vom Granit points directly toward the ground named by the wine.

Soil And Site

Granite and loess are the two soil references most closely tied to Schloss Schönberg’s wines. Granite is explicit in the name of the 2022 Spätburgunder vom Granit; loess appears alongside it in descriptions of the estate’s Hessische Bergstraße terrain. These are not decorative place names: the team vinifies parcels separately, allowing a wine from one soil reference to retain its own fruit shape and texture before blending decisions are made.

The estate does not need a single stated vineyard-area figure to explain its work. Published profiles differ on the total, while the wines themselves supply a more reliable route through the sites: vineyard names for place-led bottlings, and vom Granit for a dry Spätburgunder whose dark fruit and cool frame are tied to a specific soil cue.

Story

In 2013, Jürgen Streit and Petra Greißl-Streit bought the former Hessian state domain in Bensheim, then acquired the Renaissance castle in Schönberg and its surrounding vineyards shortly afterwards. The estate dates its participation in Hessische Bergstraße as the region’s youngest winery to 2016. That recent start explains why the castle setting and the winery’s present-day methods sit side by side rather than belonging to one uninterrupted family cellar history.

The owners set out to renew wine culture in the region, and the working response has been practical: Burgundy varieties beside regional grapes, named sites, and a team split between vineyard and cellar. Meissner’s arrival in 2018 added a winemaker with previous experience in the Pfalz and Ahr. In the glass, that work becomes most concrete when a bottle names both grape and ground, as the Spätburgunder vom Granit does.

Vineyards And Cellar

Schloss Schönberg describes nature-oriented vineyard work, avoiding herbicides and promoting biodiversity. That farming approach is paired with hand harvesting, which lets fruit arrive in small, selected lots rather than as a mechanically picked mass. Parcel-by-parcel vinification then keeps those lots separate, a useful method when granite, loess and vineyard position are meant to register in dry wines.

Spontaneous fermentation and maturation in wooden vessels are part of the estate’s cellar approach. For the 2022 Spätburgunder vom Granit, the detail is sharper still: natural yeasts, 70% whole-cluster pressing and used wood. Whole clusters can bring spice and a firmer outline to Pinot Noir; used wood supports texture without making overt oak the dominant aroma. The documented result is a taut, slender red with cassis, cherry and a cool, reductive edge.

Wines

The range is built around Burgundy varieties, Riesling and Silvaner rather than one single grape. Spätburgunder provides the strongest red reference, while Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc bring fuller white-wine texture alongside Riesling’s acidity and citrus-driven dry style. Silvaner adds another white grape suited to a more savoury shape and measured fruit weight.

Named sites broaden that range beyond a generic regional blend. Wines connected with Fürstenlager, Höllberg, Alte Burg, Hemsberg and Herrnwingert place vineyard names beside grape varieties, while Schönberg Spätburgunder vom Granit uses soil as the label’s main signal. Across those bottlings, the estate’s language is dry wine, fruit harvested by hand, fermentation with natural yeasts and wood used to build texture rather than sweetness.

In The Glass

The 2022 Spätburgunder vom Granit opens with cassis, cherry and spice. Its palate is slender rather than heavy, with cool fruit, dry tannin and a reductive note that keeps the fruit compact instead of lush. Early harvesting helps retain that cool line, while whole clusters and used wood contribute spice, grip and texture. The finish is dry and savoury, leaving cherry skin and spice rather than a sweet oak impression.

A separate 2021 note describes fresh hay, white pepper, preserved sour cherry and blackcurrant jelly, with juicy tannins and integrated acidity. Those details belong to that vintage, not the 2022. They do, however, show how Spätburgunder can move from floral and peppery aromas into cherry fruit, tannin and acidity without losing its light-on-its-feet profile.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Schönberg Spätburgunder vom Granit 2022. It is dry, 100% Spätburgunder, and its label links the grape to granite without requiring a tour through the whole range. Early hand harvesting and natural-yeast fermentation keep the fruit vivid; 70% whole clusters and used wood supply spice, tannin and texture. Expect cassis and cherry first, then a cool, slender palate and a savoury dry finish. It puts vineyard, cellar and regional Pinot Noir work in one glass.

Anecdote

In 2013, Jürgen Streit and Petra Greißl-Streit bought the former Hessian state domain in Bensheim. Shortly afterwards, they bought the Renaissance castle in Schönberg as well, together with the vineyards around it. The two purchases joined a working winery in Bensheim to a castle property above it, giving the new owners both a cellar base and vines in the Schönberg setting. Three years later, the estate dates its entry into Hessische Bergstraße as the region’s youngest winery. The castle then became part of the estate name carried on bottles made from vineyards around Bensheim, Auerbach and Schönberg.

Final Word

Schloss Schönberg is easiest to understand through its contrasts: a recently formed winery in a castle landscape, regional Riesling beside Burgundy varieties, and dry wines shaped by granite, loess, natural yeasts and wood. Start with the Spätburgunder vom Granit, then follow the vineyard names and white grapes outward.

Sources

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