The history of the Freiherrn (Barons) Langwerth von Simmern dates back to the year 1464, when Johann Langwerth von Simmern was given about 13 hectares of "Hattenheimer Mannberg" as a reward for his services as chancellor to Duke Ludwig von Pfalz-Zweibrücken. In 1472, after the acquisiton of Castle Hattenheim, the family finally made the Rheingau their home. After buying Stockheimer Hof in 1711, the family moved to Eltville, the cultural centre of the Rheingau. At Stockheimer Hof, the mother of Baron vom Stein was born in 1721. The acquisiton of Lichtenstern Hof in 1753 laid the foundations for the current estate. The two buildings lend the modern Langwerther Hof its character and enclose the Estate Park inside.
The wine world is agreed that the Rheingau represents Germany's greatest concentration of top quality Riesling. It is difficult to name a single property that has produced an unbroken run of successes with no major change of direction, particularly since the German wine trade has been buffeted in recent years by a series of difficulties including the most demanding variable: consumer taste. A number of properties, for example, have tailored their output to match the German market's current love affair with dry or Trocken wines.
At the Baron Langwerth von Simmern estate, Freiherrlich Langwerth von Simmern'sches Rentamt, there has been reassuring continuity, The cellarmaster Josef Schell, for example, has worked to the same brief since 1958, aiming to produce long-living wines of unimpeachable purity which reliably express the individual nuances of each of von Simmern's top ranking vineyards.
he estate's holdings include some of the finest sites in the important central slice of vineyards just above the banks of the Rhine between hattenheim and eltville. The 125 acres are shared between such famous sites such as Hattemheimer Nussbrunnen, Erbacher Macrobrunn, Rautenthaler Baiken and Eltviller Sonnenberg so that they include a range of the Theingau's diverse soil types.
Erbacher Macrobrunn is perhaps von Simmern's most famous single wine, partly because it impressed America's first serious wine collector, Thomas Jefferson, 200 years ago. The estate's director Helmut Kranisch points out however that his Hattenheimer Mannberg was originally considered part of 'Marcobrunn'. Herr Kranisch controls 4 acres of Erbacher Macrobrunn and 15 acres og Hattenheimer Mannberg, which gives von Simmern almost monopoly on this secon, exceptionally well falvoured site.
All von Simmern's wines are meticulously well made. Even if the Macrpbrunn wines are just a little fuller than the Mannberg examples, both are ideal vehicles for the unique combination of honeyed Riesling frui and mineral-scented earthiness that characterises the Rheingau. Jancis Robinson
