100% Riesling

Food pairings: A lovely aperitif, and a fine match for succulent seafood and Thai-inspired dishes.

Winemaking: This estate Riesling is made exactly like Dönnhoff's Riesling trocken, except that fermentation is stopped at the point the family judges to be in balance, leaving a gentle sweetness. At Dönnhoff the grapes are picked by hand and pressed within about three hours of picking, and the wines ferment spontaneously; this one is raised in a mix of stainless steel and neutral, decade-old 1,200-liter German Stückfass casks.

Vineyards and terroir: The fruit comes mostly from the Oberhäuser Felsenberg and Kieselberg vineyards near the estate, on stony, weathered volcanic soils of porphyry and melaphyr with slate and quartzite, so the wine combines the two major soil types that dominate the family's holdings. It is conceived much like a village wine, a calling card for the estate.

Family and history: The Dönnhoff family came to the Nahe about 250 years ago and established a farm in Oberhausen an der Nahe. The wine estate was started in the 1920s by Hermann Dönnhoff, grandfather of Helmut Dönnhoff, who took over in 1966 and in 1971 turned his full attention to quality wine. His son Cornelius joined him in 2007; father and son share a philosophy built on balance, summed up as "Das ganze Ding muss klingen" (the whole thing must sound right).