On Friday the 15th of January we are joined by the charming Elisabeth Muth from Weingut Rappenhof for the 4th edition of our talk show “Cellar Talks”. Elisabeth will join us to talk about her career in wine, the family winery Rappenhof, their great wines and the wine region Rheinhessen.
About Elisabeth
We are welcoming Elisabeth Muth, the co-owner and CEO of Weingut Rappenhof and 13th generation of a more than 400-year-old family winery. Elisabeth grew up in Alsheim, Rheinhessen. Her whole family is and has always been involved in the wine business, of course it has always been very present in her everyday life.
Nevertheless, she started her career and education in a very different field. She studied Architecture at the Technical Universities of Darmstadt and Zurich and has been working as an architect in Munich. She has been fascinated by the synergy of art, craft and technology which let her to the choice of her profession. But her heart has always been beating for the estate, its wines and the family tradition. After ten years apart, she came back to Alsheim and started working in the winery in 2018.
Coming home into a 400-year-old family-based estate, for a 29-year-old woman, who never had an official winemaker’s education, there is a lot to understand and learn. And that is what she did mostly during her first year: watch, ask, learn, understand. She read all the books she could get from her winemaker friends, did seminars to improve her sensorial skills, visited other wineries and talked to all the great winemakers and tried to catch their thoughts and philosophies. And as she said – of course – started questioning all of the companies processes, the philosophy and the way of making wine. But now, after 2.5 years, she managed to see and create changes and innovations.
About Weingut Rappenhof
Weingut Rappenhof is located in Alsheim, between Mainz and Mannheim, near the river Rhine. It belongs to the region Rheinhessen, with vineyards in the core area of the Rhine valley. Over 13 generations and more than 400 years of history created a unique winery, founded by Hieronymus Hirsch in 1604. Rappenhof is part of the VDP – an association of the 200 best wineries in Germany since the early 1970s and in the third generation now. Due to their membership they can guarantee extraordinary wines and the best quality.
The family cultivates 130 acres of vineyards and produces around 400.000 to 500.000 bottles every year, together with a team of 10 people. Their vineyards benefit from the unique and outstanding terroir in Rheinhessen, with fertile loess in Alsheim, stony limestone in Oppenheim and mineralic red slate at the up to 70-percent-steep terraces at famous Roter Hang in Nierstein. The winery’s main product is Riesling. Like no other grape variety, Riesling reacts to soil extremely sensitive and enables the wine drinker to taste terroir and its unique characteristics.
We are looking forward to talking to Elisabeth and learning from her background, experiences and Weingut Rappenhof. Be sure to tune in on Instagram Live through our Dutch Wine Apprentice account on Friday the 15t of January, 19:30h CET.
Click here for instructions on how to follow a live show on Instagram Live. If you have questions for our guest you are welcome to prepare them and e-mail them to us or send them as a direct message on our Instagram account.
You can find a link to the recording of the show here.
