Frank John winery: «Great wines of the old school»
Frank John worked for many years as an employed manager, but in 2002 he fulfilled a dream and bought the Hirschhorner Hof, a 400-year-old Renaissance property, a former tithe house and ecclesiastical estate with a spectacular cross vaulted cellar. Since then, both with his work as a consultant, he has been pressing wines there according to his very own ideas and calls them “great wines of the old school”.
The following year, they began to run the family business with their two children Sebastian and Dorothea. At the present time, you may discover the renewed estate in which was put the family`s love to detail, energy and endurance.
Inspired by the work with traditional aging methods and processing techniques they manage to produce elegant wines full of finesse. Frank John`s wines unite good balance with the interplay of mineral nuances, intensity and fullness.
Such quality can only be achieved by using the best hand-picked grapes of biodynamic cultivation. Of course, no pesticides or herbicides are used in the vineyard. Instead, Frank John promotes soil life with various seeds. He is convinced that greening means revitalization.
Very often, the harvesting process must be repeated several times. Only the best grapes are used to make the wine and then processed carefully and with little intervention. Fermentation and later also the biological acid degradation (MAD) supplied spontaneously. The addition of sulfur is minimal. This is followed by a long expansion in large wooden barrels. Thanks to the minimalistic work in the cellar and long aging processes in wood barrels, they produce easily digestible and balanced wines with depth and great aging potential
Since their first harvest they have only been using grapes of biodynamic cultivation. With their Riesling 2006 and the Pinot Noir 2005 they have achieved the Naturland certification. Then, with the vintage of 2012 they have achieved the DEMETER certification. They are promoters of slow food and member of the “Traditionelle Sektmacher”.
