After an early start in London I’d arrived in Frankfurt, already running late for a very special tasting at the Kloster Eberbach. 

Kloster Eberbach has played a key role in religion and winegrowing since its founding in 1136. Supported by the state for its ancient, cultural significance, this former Cistercian monastery continues to produce wine from some of the Rheingau’s most historic vineyards. There I would meet with the gregarious Andreas Spreitzer of Weingut Josef Spreitzer, and together with the great and the good of the Rheingau, we would taste the latest 2016 Riesling Grosses Gewachs (GGs) from all over the region. Following this would be a truly one-of-a-kind library tasting of single-vineyard state wines Marcobrunn and Hollenberg stretching as far back as the 1940s, before an evening revisiting a selection of the top 2015 Rheingau GGs at Weingut Robert Weil.