At the stand of the Kerpen winery from the beautiful village of Wehlen on the Middle Moselle, senior boss Mr. Martin Kerpen welcomes us personally. He recently handed over the family business to his son Matthias, the 9th generation.
The Kerpen winery loves mature wines. That is why it is presenting a Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese 2003 at ProWein 2024. The 20-year-old wine still breathes freshness, is very expressive and has a beautiful acidity. It can easily live for another 10 years. The longer a wine can mature, the more expressive it becomes. At the beginning of the ageing process, acidity and sweetness fight against each other, but as a wine gets older - 3, 4 or 5 years - the actual vintage character comes into its own much better. The wine becomes much more expressive, much more harmonious and therefore much more appealing.
The winery's main aim is to show that Rieslings can mature. That they become more interesting when they get older. The family also has a large number of mature wines in their private cellar and shows with special wine tastings that the right wines can always be stored and become more and more interesting. The main focus not only of the Kerpen winery, but of all winegrowers in the region, is on quality. If a winery has first-class vineyards, as is the case at Weingut Kerpen with Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Graacher Domprobst and Graacher Himmelreich, all Grand Cru vineyards. It is the brand of these single vineyard sites that allows the wines to be sold worldwide.