Talk about an embarrassment of riches. To give you an idea of how blessed this Estate is with its terroir, under the VDP’s Grosses Gewächs (Great Growth or Grand Cru) classification, Von Buhl ended up with seven Grosses Lage vineyards! Many of Germany’s other great Estates ended up with one or two.

At the heart of the Estate lies Von Buhl’s mighty quartet of basaltic vineyards, based around the tiny wine village of Forst; Kirchenstück (the most revered vineyard in the Pfalz), the Jesuitengarten (Garden of the Jesuits), Ungeheuer (The Monster) and Pechstein (Pitchstone). Then, there’s the beautiful ensemble of Erste Lage vineyards surrounding the village of Deidesheim—which includes holdings in Paradiesgarten, Herrgottsacker and Mäushöhle—not to mention a series of fine, unclassified sites spread across the hillside of the Mittelhaardt.

Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl has been regarded as one of Germany’s most renowned wineries since its founding in 1849 by Franz Peter Buhl. After a period of instability, under a series of absentee landlords and overseas investors, this iconic Pfalz estate is now under the stable ownership of the forward-thinking Niederberger-Seeger family. And, thanks to a series of talented winemakers at the helm, the quality at this Estate has roared back to life.

Stephan Weber got the ball rolling. Weber’s refocus on producing full-bodied, site-specific, dry Rieslings—via a medium of low yields, low input and organic viticulture—clearly had the modern-era, Von Buhl, playing to its greatest strengths.

At the turn of the 20th century this Estate’s wines fetched higher prices than top Bordeaux and Burgundy bottlings—thank heavens the same cannot be said today!

The arrival of the high-profile ex-Bollinger winemaker Matthieu Kauffmann, in 2012, alongside managing director Richard Groche, took things to an explosive new level. Kauffmann was brought in not only to reform the structure of the Estate but also to take Von Buhl’s sparkling program to another level. He did both, all the while assisted by Groche’s outward-looking and energetic management style. When Kauffmann arrived, he immediately set new parameters with a bone-dry, less ‘exotic’ style of Riesling.

Some of the keys to the Estate’s Kauffmann-era were a preference to ferment in large, 2400-litre dopplestück ovals, the practice of natural yeast fermentations, and his wine’s long, texture enriching élevage on full lees. Kauffman would also reduce the use of sulphur dioxide during vinification to the bare minimum, throw out the pumps (the wines are now moved by gravity alone) and the wines are no longer fined. All these factors, and more, would add up to a stunning rebirth for this storied Estate.

Following seven years of Kauffman-fuelled progress, Simone Frigerio took over as winemaker in 2019. Born and raised in Italy, Simone lived and breathed wine since childhood, assisting his grandparents in the family vineyard. If our recent tasting in Germany (2022) is anything to go by, the next chapter of Von Buhl’s history is in very safe hands.

Whichever wine you choose, know that Von Buhl’s Rieslings are wines that seemingly suck the minerals right out of their rocky soils. Despite their textural abundance and sheer mass of diamond-cut fruit, these tension-rich wines remain incredibly precise. Our core offering is a pulpy (and pourable) dry Riesling bottled exclusively for Bibendum. It’s a pithy, minerally value, with superb rocky texture providing a perfect foil for the mouth-watering, citrus-edged acidity and near bone-dry finish.