The winery is located in the municipality of Westhofen in the German wine-growing region of
Rheinhessen. It was founded in 1763 by Johann Michael Groebe. Since then, it has carried the coat of arms with the old Christian symbol for wine, the St. Andrew's cross. After extensive construction work, the winery and all its farm buildings have been located in Westhofen since 2012; the Biebesheim site has been abandoned. The winery is managed by Dipl. Ing. Oenologist Friedrich Groebe. The vineyards cover nine hectares of vines in the VDP-classified single vineyard sites
Aulerde,
Kirchspiel,
Morstein and
Steingrube (Westhofen). They are 70% planted with Riesling, as well as Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Silvaner, Scheurebe and Portugieser.
The vineyards are cultivated according to the rules of organic viticulture and
integrated pest management. This includes naturally growing
cover crop, as well as dispensing with mineral
fertilisers and
herbicides. In addition to
sulphur, environmentally friendly
fungicides with a longer period of action are used to combat
mildew. Animal pests are kept in check with
beneficial insects and
confusion methods, and
insecticides are not used. Great attention is paid to targeted
pruning and careful soil and foliage management.
The musts are fermented
spontaneously, with particular emphasis on slow and cool fermentation. The
fermentation and ageing of the wines takes place traditionally and exclusively in large oak barrels (piece measure). The wines are marketed according to the
VDP classification in the three lines
Grosse Lage (fruit-sweet Prädikat wines from Spätlese onwards), Ortsweine (Westhofener) and Gutsweine (GROEBE à la Carte) and exported worldwide. The winery is a member of the
VDP (Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates).
