Change in wine designations from the 2023 vintage

For almost 15 years now, we have been categorising our Riesling wines into estate, local and site wines and calling the top of the four-stage quality pyramid Ikonen. In doing so, we were quick to reflect a general trend in German viticulture - at least in the case of dry wines - to move away from the traditional German principle of "quality in the glass" towards "born quality" (the so-called Romanesque principle of origin). Always true to the motto "the closer the origin, the higher the promise of quality". 

 As a result of this trend, many wineries now only use the Prädikat terms for the classic fruity and noble sweet Rieslings. These are disappearing more and more from the labels of dry and semi-dry wines. We want to continue along this path and will therefore emphasise the origin of the wine on all dry and off-dry wines (recognisable by the blue or green capsule) from the 23rd vintage onwards: 

Estate wines form the entry into our Riesling range and are made from grapes of different origins. 

The village wines proudly bear the names of such world-famous wine villages as Piesport, Kasel or Wiltingen - the grapes come exclusively from vineyards in the respective communities.

All of our single-vineyard wines come from particularly valuable great vineyards on the Moselle, Saar and Ruwer. This is why they now also bear this addition on their label alongside their vineyard name.

The Grosses Gewächse are top wines vinified dry, the grapes for which come from the best plots in each of the Grosses Lage sites. They therefore represent the highest level of noble origin for our winery.

For the fruity and noble sweet Rieslings, on the other hand, everything remains the same, from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese. 

We believe that this allows you to experience all of our wonderful wines in a completely new way.


Riesling Pyramid

To all Riesling lovers and to those who want to become one, the so-called Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier Riesling Pyramid was developed as a best possible overview of the different sweetness levels, villages and single vineyard sites. All wines are included at a glance.

The different levels of sweetness are color-coded.

The foundation of the multi-level pyramid is made up of DOM and FRITZ WILLI wines, including three different styles of Riesling and other grape varieties, such as Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder) and Elbling, rosé, red wine and Riesling sparkling wine (Sekt).

On the second level are our local wines: the name of the village from which the grapes for the wine come from stands for their origin. These Rieslings are vinified dry (trocken) and off-dry (feinherb). They impress with a lot of fruit and minerality at moderate alcohol levels.

The third level of our Riesling pyramid is formed by the Rieslings from single vineyards: they come from characterful individual locations and thus express their origin from the soil to the microclimate. Selective hand-picking as well as particularly gentle grape processing and plenty of time in traditional oak barrels or stainless steel tanks shape their unique profile.

Our Icon wines at the top of the pyramid represent the pinnacle of Bischöfliche Weingüter's excellence: a class apart! Our dry Grand Crus (Große Gewächse) and Réserves, noble sweet selections (Auslese), berry and dried berry selections (Beeren- und Trockenbeerenauslesen), as well as ice wines (Eisweine) come from world-famous single vineyards. They are characterized by their richness in mineral extracts, density, ripe fruit, and substantial fullness.