Germany · Nahe

Weingut Tobias Rickes

A Nahe estate run by Tobias Rickes since 2014, working with vineyards from Bad Kreuznach into the Guldenbach and Gräfenbach valleys.

The producer

Weingut Tobias Rickes is based in Bad Kreuznach-Winzenheim, with vineyards spread across Bad Kreuznach and the Guldenbach and Gräfenbach valleys. That geographic spread brings different growing conditions into the cellar, supporting Rickes’s aim to make wines that show both origin and vintage. Riesling is the clearest starting point: the current dry Riesling is the 2024 vintage, listed at 13.0% alcohol.

The range moves from sparkling wine through dry, off-dry and mild styles, rosé, Blanc de Noir and reds. White grapes include Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Scheurebe; Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon lead the red selection. Extra hand work, low yields, healthy fruit and gentle handling shape an approach intended to preserve fruit, acidity and texture rather than bury them under heavy cellar treatment.

Known for

Nahe wines shaped by vineyard variation across three valley settings, with dry Riesling as the clearest reference point.

Notable facts

The story

Taking Charge Across the Valleys

In 2014, Tobias Rickes began running the winery in Bad Kreuznach-Winzenheim. Its vineyards were already spread beyond the town, extending into the Guldenbach and Gräfenbach valleys. Rickes linked those different locations to climatic variation and set out to make wines that reflected origin and vintage. His stated work in the vineyards and cellar centres on extra hand work, low yields and healthy grapes, followed by gentle grape handling and only necessary intervention. The resulting range includes Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Scheurebe, with Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon on the red side.

From the atlas

Weingut Tobias Rickes

At A Glance

Weingut Tobias Rickes is based in Bad Kreuznach-Winzenheim, in Germany’s Nahe Valley, where Tobias Rickes has run the estate since 2014. Its vineyards run from Bad Kreuznach into the Guldenbach and Gräfenbach valleys, so one producer works with several local growing conditions rather than one uniform site. Riesling is the useful starting grape, while the wider range moves through sparkling wine, dry, off-dry and mild whites, rosé, Blanc de Noir and reds.

The Producer

Tobias Rickes has directed the winery since 2014, with a stated aim that each wine should show both its origin and its vintage. That ambition is tied to the estate’s spread of vineyards: fruit comes from Bad Kreuznach and from the Guldenbach and Gräfenbach valleys, where differing conditions can arrive in the cellar as distinct ripeness, acidity and fruit profiles. The current dry Riesling is a concrete example: the 2024 vintage is listed at 13.0% alcohol.

Place

The Nahe is the frame, but Rickes’s working landscape is more specific: Bad Kreuznach-Winzenheim and two tributary-valley routes, Guldenbach and Gräfenbach. Rickes points to climatic variation between those vineyard locations. In a dry Riesling, variation in growing conditions can shift the balance between fruit weight and acidity; across a broader range, it allows the estate to work with grapes as different as Sauvignon Blanc, Scheurebe and Pinot Noir without treating every parcel as interchangeable.

Soil And Site

The physical site story here begins with the valley network rather than a named soil type. Vineyards extend from Bad Kreuznach into the Guldenbach and Gräfenbach valleys, and the producer links those locations with climatic variation. That matters at harvest: fruit arriving from several settings can preserve different levels of ripeness and freshness, leaving room for wines intended to show the year as well as the Nahe.

Story

Since taking charge in 2014, Tobias Rickes has built the estate’s present work around fruit from several valley settings and a deliberately broad set of grapes. The white plantings include Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Scheurebe; the red side includes Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Cortis also listed regionally. The consequence is not a single-variety estate but a range in which dry Riesling can sit beside sparkling wine, rosé and reds, each beginning with fruit shaped by its growing place and season.

Vineyards And Cellar

Rickes describes extra hand work, low yields and healthy grapes as central to the estate’s approach. Those choices concentrate attention in the vineyard: lower yields reduce the crop carried by each vine, while healthy fruit gives the cellar cleaner raw material to work with. He also describes gentle grape handling and doing only what is necessary in the cellar. In practical terms, that approach seeks to carry fruit condition into the finished wine rather than cover it with heavy processing, keeping acidity, texture and vintage character in view.

The cellar approach matters particularly across such a varied line-up. Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Scheurebe do not bring the same fruit or body to a dry wine; Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon do not bring the same tannin or weight to a red. Gentle handling gives those differences room to remain legible, while the estate’s dry, off-dry and mild categories let sweetness level become part of the wine’s structure rather than an afterthought.

Wines

The range is organised by style as much as by grape. Sparkling wine sits alongside dry, off-dry and mild wines, then rosé, Blanc de Noir and reds. Within the whites, Riesling provides the clearest current reference point, joined by Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Scheurebe. The red selection brings Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon into the cellar, with Cabernet Cortis additionally listed by the regional body.

For texture, the documented Sekt is especially useful. It is made by traditional bottle fermentation and described through dryness, mineral character, texture and mousse. Bottle fermentation develops the sparkling wine in bottle, so the mousse is part of its physical feel rather than merely a visual flourish. The dry still wines offer a different shape: less about bubbles and more about fruit, acidity, body and the weight carried by the vintage.

In The Glass

Begin with the contrast between the estate’s dry Riesling and its bottle-fermented Sekt. The Riesling is listed as dry and at 13.0% alcohol in the 2024 vintage, placing fruit, body and acidity at the centre of the glass rather than sweetness. The Sekt follows with dry flavour, mineral texture and a persistent mousse; its bubbles lift the palate while the texture keeps it from feeling thin.

Across the range, grape choice changes the structure. Riesling can carry a dry, acidity-led profile; Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc bring different body and texture; Scheurebe and Sauvignon Blanc widen the aromatic register. The reds move from Pinot Noir’s lighter tannin frame toward the greater weight associated with Merlot and Cabernet varieties. These are not interchangeable labels: grape, sweetness level and method alter the feel of the wine before any food reaches the table.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose the 2024 Riesling Trocken. It is the estate’s most firmly documented current still wine: dry, from the 2024 vintage and listed at 13.0% alcohol. Riesling also connects directly to Rickes’s central idea of vineyards spread across Bad Kreuznach, Guldenbach and Gräfenbach, where differing conditions can register in fruit weight and acidity. Pour it well chilled, note its dry shape and body, then return to it as it warms slightly; that is where the relationship between vintage, grape and the Nahe landscape is most immediate.

Anecdote

In 2014, Tobias Rickes began running the winery in Bad Kreuznach-Winzenheim. The estate he took on was not confined to one vineyard setting: its holdings extended from Bad Kreuznach into the Guldenbach and Gräfenbach valleys. Rickes connected those locations with climatic variation and set out to make wines that reflected both origin and vintage. His stated working choices were extra hand work, low yields, healthy grapes, gentle grape handling and only necessary intervention in the cellar. The wines made under that approach include Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Scheurebe, alongside Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Final Word

Rickes is worth seeking out for the meeting of a spread-out Nahe vineyard base and an uncommonly broad grape range. Start with the dry 2024 Riesling, then let the bottle-fermented Sekt show how the same estate handles dryness, mineral texture and mousse in another form.

Sources

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