The estate is located in the town of Rüdesheim in the Rheingau wine-growing region in Germany. The foundation was laid by Josef Kesseler, who took over what was previously the Assmanshausen co-operative in 1924. His grandson August Kesseler has been responsible fort he estate since 1977. Since then, he has gained practical experience in France, Italy and the USA. The vineyard area totals 20 hectares, with holdings in the followingsites: Höllenberg (Assmannshausen), Pfaffenwies, Schlossberg and Seligmacher (Lorch), as well as Berg Roseneck, Berg Schlossberg and Bischofsberg (Rüdesheim). More than 50% of the area is planted with Pinot Noir, with some of the vines more than 70 years old (10,5 ha), other varieties are Riesling (8,4 ha) and Silvaner (2,1 ha). Considerable attention is paid to keeping the yields low, with first pruning after flowering, a green harvest, as well as selective hand-picking of only ripe, healthy grapes. The red wines are matured in barriques for 12 to 15 months, while the terroir-specific white wines are matured in stainless steel tanks. Bottle-fermented sparkling wines as well as grappa-style spirits are also produced. The estate is a member of the VDP (Verband deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitäts-Weingüter) association.
The vintage 2005
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Kesseler appears to be currently almost the only VDP producer in the Rheingau who continues to work without compromise at improving the quality of his wines, without any sideways glances at marketing aspects that can so easily take the eye off the ball. The First Growth, which generally in the Rheingau is busy deteriorating to a pure marketing gimmick, is really first class here, and the only one of these products really worthy of the name. But the dry Riesling Spätleses too are excellent, and as to his sweet and botrytis dessert wines, there is hardly anybody in the region who is Kesselers equal. He has certainly earned the accolade „Range of the Year".
The difficult vintage 2000 was also reflected to some extent in August Kesselers range, but the wines throughout showed pure, typical fruit, and are most enjoyable to drink. No single vineyard red wines were bottled this year – these wines can be found in the excellent blend, Cuvée Max. The two sparkling wines are also very good.
Rheingau
Riesling, Schaumwein, sparkling wine with specific origin, Brut
A most impressive selection of Pinot Noir wines crowns the range of the 1999 vintage, which also shines with some very big botrytis dessert wines and some very good dry Rieslings.
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