Karthäuserhof

Karthäuserhof is one of the great estates of Germany, with a complex and storied history that dates back centuries. Carthusian monks founded the property, a Hof, or working farm, in 1335, making it one of the oldest estates in Europe (the 8th oldest in the world, according to them). Recent findings, dating back to Roman times, show that a settlement with viticulture likely existed at Karthäuserhof even before the establishment of the monastery. Much like its neighbor, Maximin Grünhaus, wine was made and consumed by the monks continually for almost 500 years. Following secularization under Napoleon, Karthäuserhof was auctioned off in Paris in 1811. Valentin Leonardy, a Francophile, bought the estate and the property has been in the same family since, first as the Rautenstrauchs, then as the Tyrells and now as the Behler family.

The jewel in the crown here is the famed Karthäuserhofberg vineyard, a 19-hectare monopole site all in one block, with a mostly south and southwest-facing exposition. The site, on the right bank of the Ruwer, is open to the west, closed to the east and consists of reddish soil covered with weathered gray slate. It's an iron-rich soil which is ideal for wine. The vineyard is planted almost entirely to Riesling on original rootstock. The Karthäuserhofberg vineyard has obviously been highly regarded for centuries and is featured in the famed Prussian Saar und Mosel Weinbau-Karte of 1868, a tax map for the district of Trier, where it is listed under the name Kartauserberg.

Karthäuserhof produces a range of styles, from prädikat level Kabinetts, Spatlesen and Auslesen, to off-dry feinherb wines, to their famed Grosses Gewächs trocken wines. The wines are known for the ability to age and maintain a remarkable freshness throughout. The style at Karthäuserhof, especially with the trocken wines, emphasizes a classic interplay of minerality, acidity and fruit, that creates a breathtaking energy and an almost electric tension.

The distinctive neck label, which has since been trademarked and has contributed to the wine’s fame. Is said to have originated when Wilhelm Rautenstrauch, the first owner after the Carthusians, would secretly meet in a back part of the garden with a gazebo to drink wines and play cards with friends. To keep the bottles cool, he would stand them up in the Eitelsbach brook that runs by the property into the Ruwer. The problem was that the labels would regularly come off from the bottles. To remedy this, he had the brilliant idea of having just a neck label, which has adorned bottles of the Karthäuserhof for more than 100 years ever since.

In 2020, Mathieu Kauffmann, formerly chef de cave at Bollinger and later responsible for the organic conversion of the Von Buhl estate in the Pfalz, was hired as technical director. He has been instrumental in streamlining the range of available wines and, most importantly, beginning the process of converting the entire estate to organic viticulture. As of 2022, 30% of the vineyards are fully organic.

The following is only a selection of the wines that we carry from Karthäuserhof. Please contact your salesperson for a complete list of current wines on offer from the estate, including magnums of library vintages of Karthäuserhofberg GG.