In the world of wine we sometimes like to talk about how old things are. Like, this Californian winery goes back to pre-prohibition times. Or, in Burgundy, we might mention generations of families going back... Read More

In the world of wine we sometimes like to talk about how old things are. Like, this Californian winery goes back to pre-prohibition times. Or, in Burgundy, we might mention generations of families going back to the 18th century. We’ve gone even further back, to monasteries in the Italian Alps that date back to the 12th century and continue to make wine today!

Well, today’s story is about the oldest one we’ve ever found. It’s the Vereinigte Hospitien, a German hospice that was born in 330 AD! Rome had not yet fallen, but that’s the same year that Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople, signaling a massive shift in power towards the east and a long descent into the Dark Ages.

Vereinigte survived all the vicissitudes of that dark era and the many eras that followed. It gradually accumulated more vineyard land thanks to generous donations. One of the donations was a special plot of land in a vineyard in the Saar known as Scharzhofberger.

Riesling fans, we have your attention! You of course know that Scharzhofberger is the great site where Elon Muller makes his Riesling, among the most prized in the world. The soils are extremely rocky, with worn red and grey slate. There is sunshine to ripen the grapes but also consistent breezes to keep them fresh. This is Riesling's holy ground – and it’s been around for even longer than the Vereinigte Hospice.