Schloss Johannisberg: We will finish this year successful

Stefan Doktor, managing director of Rheingau wine estate Schloss Johannisberg, said that while sales will be down, 2020 will be a “successful” year for the producer.

Doktor said that while sales will not be at the same level as 2019, strong performance online, successful product launches, and a record-breaking performance at auction mean that the tribulations of 2020 are “nothing that will break our neck”.

Schloss Johannisberg, which was first founded as a wine-producing Benedictine monastery in 1100, is celebrating 300 years of Riesling cultivation this year.

Doktor said the main celebrations will be held over until 2021 due to Covid-19, but that the winery had been holding themed online tastings and seminars, which have reached a global audience.

“We can celebrate 301 years of Riesling, and everyone will understand it,” he said. “We feel the danger, and we don’t want to do any celebrations and put people at risk. It’s very difficult to be patient, but we’ve decided to try it again next year with a big celebration.”

Schloss Johannisberg had already planned to launch a new online shop in April, something Doktor said had been “very successful”. However, since the lockdown has been lifted, online sales have dipped from the heights achieved in April and May to return to a more “normal” level.

Earlier this year a bottle of the winery’s Riesling Goldlack (TBA) from 1920 sold at auction for a record €18,000.

Doktor said that attention the bottle received helped drive sales, particularly outside of Europe.

“It was the second highest price for a bottle of our wine ever reached,” he said. “The oldest bottle in our collection is one from the 1748 vintage. The oldest wine I’ve tasted was one from 1864: it was bone dry with high acidity and it was really clean, but it was not the best-balanced wine I’ve tasted. However, the wine from 1920 was different. It was so balanced with beautiful sweetness, high acidity and clean and complex aromatics. It was truly the best wine I’ve ever drunk.”

He said the bottle’s performance at auction helped boost the winery’s sales and reputation in Asia in particular.

“[The auction result] works like a proof to the people that these wines are valuable because they can reach such a price,” he said.

As the 2020 harvest continues, Doktor said the grapes are healthy and good quality, with the only issue being a bit of sunburn due to high temperatures experienced at the end of July until the middle of August.

The winery’s latest product launch – the 2017 Goldlack trocken Riesling – which retails for around €150, sold out on allocation, Doktor said.

The wine was fermented and aged in 1,200-litre wooden barrels made from wood grown on the estate, and is then stored in the winery’s famous cellars for two years prior to release.

“We won’t make this wine every year, we’re only looking for the best vintages,” Doktor said. “We’re lucky that we had 2017, 2018 and 2019 that were good years. We hope to make the wine this year, but that hasn’t been decided.”