Germany · Mosel

Weingut Trossen

A Kindel Riesling estate in the middle Mosel, where Rita and Rudolf Trossen pair biodynamic farming with slow, low-intervention cellar work.

The producer

Most of Weingut Trossen’s Riesling grows on steep, slate-rich Mosel slopes. Rita and Rudolf Trossen converted the entire estate to biodynamic methods in 1978; hand harvesting, gentle pressing and slow fermentation keep the grape’s acidity, fruit and texture in focus.

The range moves through different cellar approaches. Pur’us is the additive-free, unfiltered line begun in 2010; Pyramide spends about six months whole-bunch fermenting with indigenous yeast in 1,000-litre stainless-steel tanks; Schieferblume returns attention to slate-ground Riesling. Expect dry-feeling fruit, lively acidity, texture and a mineral finish rather than oak weight.

Known for

Biodynamic Mosel Riesling from steep slate slopes, including the additive-free Pur’us line.

Notable facts

The story

The first Pur’us bottle

Rita and Rudolf Trossen converted their whole estate to biodynamic farming in 1978. In 2010, after encouragement from sommelier clients, they bottled their first Pur’us Riesling. It was made without additives or filtration, a distinct step within a cellar already built around hand-picked fruit, gentle pressing and slow fermentation. Pur’us became the name for the estate’s no-intervention wines, while Riesling remained the grape at the centre of the work. The 2010 bottle came more than three decades after the biodynamic conversion, joining wines from the Trossens’ steep, slate-rich Mosel slopes.

From the atlas

Weingut Trossen

At A Glance

Weingut Trossen, also known as Trossenwein, is Rita and Rudolf Trossen’s biodynamic Riesling estate in Kindel, in Germany’s middle Mosel. Its address, Bahnhofstrasse 7 in Kinheim-Kindel, sits close to the steep, slate-rich slopes that supply most of its vines. The estate’s working pattern is direct: biodynamic farming, hand-picked fruit, gentle pressing and slow fermentation, often with natural yeast.

The Producer

Rita and Rudolf Trossen make Riesling from steep Mosel vineyards where slate and gradient are central to the wine’s shape. Their estate converted fully to biodynamic methods in 1978, then carries the same light-handed approach into the cellar through manual harvesting, gentle pressing and slow fermentations. The result is a range built around Riesling’s acidity and texture rather than heavy oak or sweetness.

Place

Kindel lies in the middle Mosel, where Riesling is planted on slopes steep enough to demand careful vineyard work. At Trossen, the physical setting matters because most vines stand on slate-rich ground: the grape can keep its citrus-led acidity while reaching ripeness, producing wines with a dry, stony feel and a long finish instead of broad, soft fruit.

The Mosel name on a Trossen bottle therefore points to more than a German region. It connects Riesling to steep hillside fruit, a cool-climate acid line and the estate’s slow-fermentation cellar work. Bottles such as Schieferblume and Pyramide show different ways of carrying that material through fermentation.

Soil And Site

Slate is the estate’s recurring ground note. Most of the vines are on steep, slate-rich slopes, and importer material describes many as ungrafted, with some approaching 100 years old. Old, ungrafted Riesling vines do not guarantee a particular flavour, but they place the fruit in long-established hillside sites rather than a newly planted, uniform block.

The Lay vineyard appears in accounts of the estate’s biodynamic work. Treatments under Ecovin rules are limited to herbs, minerals and a restricted amount of hydrous copper solution for fungal disease. That limits what reaches the vines and keeps the farming focus on the hillside itself: soil, canopy, weather and ripe fruit at harvest.

Story

The Trossens’ defining decision came in 1978, when Rita and Rudolf converted the whole estate to biodynamic farming. It was not a cellar-only change. The move applied across the vines that supply their Riesling, including the slate slopes that make hand work unavoidable. That farming commitment sits behind a cellar routine of gentle pressing and slow fermentation, leaving the wines to develop acidity, fruit and texture without forceful extraction.

The estate’s approach is especially clear when a wine is allowed extra time. Natural yeast is preferred in small barrels, while Pyramide follows a separate route in stainless steel. The methods differ in vessel and fruit handling, but both keep Riesling’s structure at the centre of the bottle.

Vineyards And Cellar

Hand harvesting allows the Trossens to bring in Riesling from steep slopes without treating the vineyard as a machine-worked crop. Gentle pressing follows, limiting harsh phenolic grip from skins and seeds, while slow fermentation lets fruit and acidity settle into a more measured texture. Small barrels are used for many wines, with a preference for natural yeast rather than a standardised commercial ferment.

Pyramide has its own defined method: whole bunches ferment with indigenous yeast in 1,000-litre stainless-steel tanks for about six months. Whole-bunch fermentation can bring a lightly savoury, herbal edge and a firmer textural grip; stainless steel keeps oak out of the equation. In the Pur’us line, the estate goes further, bottling wines without additives or filtration.

Wines

The range is held together by Riesling but divided by method and bottle role. Pur’us is the no-intervention line, begun with the estate’s first additive-free, unfiltered Riesling in 2010. Madonna Pur’us belongs here: a Riesling with dry fruit, acidity and texture allowed to remain visible rather than softened by filtration or cellar additions.

Pyramide is the more method-specific bottle. Its long whole-bunch fermentation in stainless steel points toward citrus fruit, savoury spice, mineral character and grip, with no oak weight covering the finish. Schieferblume Riesling returns the focus to slate-ground Riesling: dry in feel, fresh in acidity and shaped around fruit, texture and a stony finish.

In The Glass

Across the wines, start with Riesling’s citrus and orchard-fruit register, then look for the palate to turn drier and more mineral than perfumed. Slow fermentation and natural yeast can bring extra texture, so the acidity is not merely sharp: it runs through the wine as a firm line, carrying fruit from the first sip into the finish.

Madonna Pur’us is the more unfiltered, additive-free expression, where dry fruit and savoury notes meet a textured palate. Pyramide’s whole-bunch ferment can add herbal spice and a little phenolic grip. Schieferblume is the clearest slate-led version: citrus, mineral character, bright acidity and a finish with more chalky weight than sweetness.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Schieferblume Riesling. It brings the estate’s central elements into one bottle: Riesling from slate-rich Mosel slopes, biodynamic vineyard work and a dry, acid-driven palate. Expect citrus fruit first, then mineral detail and texture across the middle, finishing with a stony, mouthwatering edge. It is the most direct way into the connection between Trossen’s steep ground and its restrained cellar handling.

Anecdote

Rita and Rudolf Trossen converted their whole estate to biodynamic farming in 1978. More than three decades later, in 2010, they bottled their first Pur’us Riesling: a wine made without additives or filtration. The decision followed encouragement from sommelier clients who wanted a more uncompromised version of the Trossens’ Riesling. Pur’us became the name for that line, while the estate continued to work with hand harvesting, gentle pressing and slow fermentation. The first bottle joined a cellar already committed to natural yeast and low handling, but it was the absence of additions and filtration that marked Pur’us out from the rest of the range.

Final Word

Trossen is worth seeking out for Riesling that begins on steep Mosel slate and stays close to that origin in the cellar. Choose Schieferblume for a dry, mineral first look; move to Pyramide for whole-bunch grip or Madonna Pur’us for the unfiltered Pur’us expression.

Sources

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