The winery is located on the south-eastern outskirts of
Johannisberg in the German
wine-growing region of
Rheingau. It was acquired in 1957 by the Landgrave of Hesse for the Hessische Hausstiftung (Hessian House Foundation) with a vineyard area of seven hectares at the time. The trademark is the well-known coat of arms of the Princes and Landgraves of Hesse, the red and white striped lion of Heinrich I. Today, the winery is run by Donatus Landgrave of Hesse (managing director of the Hessische Hausstiftung) and its director Dr. Clemens Kiefer. The greatly expanded vineyards now cover 40 hectares of vines in the single vineyard sites
Klaus and Vogelsang (Johannisberg), Dachsberg, Gutenberg,
Hasensprung and
Jesuitengarten (Winkel),
Kläuserweg (Geisenheim), and
Sandgrub (Kiedrich).
In the
VDP classification in 1999, almost 70% of the vineyard areas were classified as
Erstes Gew ächs. Around 90% of the vineyards are planted with Riesling and the red wine varieties Pinot Noir and Merlot. In the cellar, investments were made in new technology such as steel tanks with controllable cooling as well as traditional wooden barrels with a volume of 1,200 litres (single barrel). They are convinced that the ageing in these barrels, which has a long tradition in the Rheingau, is ideally suited for particularly long-lived wines. A large collection of wine rarities dating back to 1958 often fetches high prices at top-class
auctions. Around 300,000 bottles of wine are produced annually. The winery is a member of the
VDP (Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates).
