The winery is located in the municipality of Appenheim ( Bingen area) in the German wine-growing region of Rheinhessen. The family has been growing grapes here for five generations. Karl-Heinz Bischel laid the foundation for today's winery in the 1960s. Today, the two brothers Christian and Matthias Runkel share the management of the estate with their parents, Heike and Hartmut Runkel. The vineyards cover 20 hectares of vines in the single vineyard sites Drosselborn and Hundertgulden (Appenheim), Goldberg, Johannisberg and St. Laurenzikapelle (Gau-Algesheim), and Scharlachberg (Bingen). They are planted with the white wine varieties Riesling (one third of the total area), Silvaner, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as with the red wine varieties Pinot Noir and Pinot Noir. The quality criteria are natural vineyard management, low yields and non-invasive cellar management.
After selective hand harvesting, the gently pressed musts ferment spontaneously with the vineyard's own yeasts. The wines are matured in steel tanks and in traditional large wooden barrels. The best Burgundy wines mature in French barriques (228 l) and tonneaux barrels (500 l). The principle applies: the smaller the origin, the higher the quality of the wines. All dry wines are designated according to their origin as estate, local or site wines. Only the best wines of a vintage bear the vineyard names. The fruit-driven estate wines usually come from several vineyards. The local wines, which are characterised by high fruit ripeness, are produced in the best plots of the respective village. The single-vineyard wines of Riesling, Silvaner and Pinot Noir are wines that can be stored for a long time and have a very individual character. The fruity-sweet and noble-sweet wines are marketed as Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. The winery is a member of the Rheinhessen association Message in a Bottle and the Maxime Herkunft Rheinhessen.
