Seckinger

Owner

Seckinger Family

Winemaker

Seckinger Family

Appellation

Ruppertsberg

Distribution Area

New Jersey and New York

Varieties

Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Grauburgunder, Muskateller, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Savagnin, Weissburgunder

Vineyard

Currently, they have a total of about 20 hectares, spread out in several small single vineyards, with a mix of red sandstone, marl, and limestone soils. Some of their vineyards are quite idyllic; abutting woods and on cooler slopes, such as Petershöhle (Peter’s Cave) and Einstal.

The elixir of Riesling grown on limestone is well know, and it’s a winning combination, where the fruit takes on an extroverted dimension with precision and depth to the chiselled fruit. Seckinger has some limestone vineyards (e.g. their aptly named cru Kalkofen), but what really sets them apart is their work tuning the vines and wines grown on sandstone soils, which produces a Riesling with introverted, muted fruit notes, with an airy, mystical-mineral complexity. For those quiet enough to listen, the wines from the sandstone soils can be breathtaking. Their Riesling R bottling is a case study in sandstone soils.

Farming

Biodynamic and Certified Organic

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About Seckinger

What’s lovely to see at Seckinger is the family and thirsty friends pitching in to help during harvest, and throughout the year. The three Seckinger brothers work on all aspects of the winery, with Lukas and Philipp mostly in the vineyards, and Jonas taking the lead for crafting the wines in the cellar.

Falstaff Magazine says about Jonas Seckinger: You can confidently count him among the protagonists of a precocious and well-trained generation of winegrowers who know exactly what they want: his wines already look amazingly mature and stylish. Seckinger produced his first wine at the age of 17, initially experimenting with an old wooden press in his parents’ garage.

On a recent visit, Jonas wanted to check in on some of Seckinger’s cru bottlings with some of his favourite producers on the table (De Moor, Tissot, Domaine de Saint Pierre). As we tasted at the picnic table outside the family house, his mother and father brought us an impromptu dinner of traditional Leberknödel, Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut. You could see it in Jonas’ eyes, as he oscillated among the wines. He was searching; searching for his wine to move him as much as those other wines on the table did, and searching for what his different vineyards and soils wanted to express. It’s rare to be in the company of someone so young making such stellar wines, and he knowns that his family’s resources were the key.

Part of the PortoVino portfolio