It all started because Christine and Burkhard Spiess loved going out to eat. Back home, in the very south of Rheinhessen, they enjoyed driving to the neighboring Palatinate region with its famous restaurants. And one evening, they found themselves sitting in a beautiful cross-vaulted cellar. “We looked at each other and said, ‘We actually have something like this at home, too,’” says Christine Spiess.

“Home” is an old winery in the center of Osthofen, now a thriving wine-growing community very close to Worms. Today, the Vis-à-Vis is one of the leading restaurants in the area and attracts guests from near and far. For its combination of sophisticated, regionally inspired cuisine, an extensive Rheinhessen wine list, and the wonderful renovation of the old stable, the Spiess family won the 2017 Great Wine Capital Best of Award in the wine gastronomy category.

This is the heart of the Rheinhessen wine region; here, people have lived from and with wine for centuries. For centuries, the region around Worms—the city of the Nibelungs—served as a staging ground for the armies of Europe; some plundered and pillaged, while others stayed. It was the French under Napoleon who stayed the longest. They founded the province of Rheinhessen and brought with them peace, prosperity—and a distinct fondness for good food.

"My parents used to keep chickens in there," says Christine with a smile, "the whole building was full of junk, my father's old workshop and the garbage cans." Ten years ago, the Spiess family started the Kuhkappelle project, which turned out to be a mammoth task. The winery is a typical Rheinhessen farmstead with a house on the street, a large courtyard, a huge barn, and a low stable on the side. "The house was built before 1830, and the stable was added in 1870," says Christine.

Inside, the ceiling immediately catches the eye: the cross vault is made of narrow red clay tiles laid close together; the clay discs are only dried, not fired. "When we started renovating, the plaster came off," says Christine, "so I asked: who's going to replaster it for us?" No one, as it turned out: the ceiling remained open and was sandblasted, and now the warm red ceiling creates a feeling of eternal sunset.

The furniture reflects the colors with warm brown, orange, and light sand tones. The restaurant seats 65, and at the entrance, a bar creates a lounge atmosphere and displays the wine bottles as if in a shop window. Burkhard Spiess started his own bottled wine production just five years ago, and the first wine was served at the restaurant's opening. Before that, Burkhard Spiess had helped his brother with production at the Spiess winery in Bechtheim for years, and now it was finally time to make his own wine.

Today, the Spiess branch in Osthofen owns 23 hectares of vineyards, half of which are planted with Pinot Noir. "This is the Wonnegau, we are spoiled by the weather here," says Christine. Our glasses sparkle with a wonderfully mineral and delicately fruity Riesling, dry of course, because Burkhard Spiess simply decided to produce only dry wines.

That’s why the restaurant’s wine list also features wines from other wineries, such as Karl May, and sparkling wines from Volker Raumland, to offer something for every taste. “It’s somehow more open—our guests like that,” says Christine, glancing toward the courtyard gate, which stands wide open. Yes, the people of Rheinhessen have become more self-confident and, as a result, more open-minded, says the 50-year-old; the 200th anniversary of Rheinhessen has suddenly made the region proud of itself.

And so here they serve teriyaki salmon and rump steak with chili potatoes, truffle pasta, and fillet cutlets made from Ambri pork. But why is the restaurant called Vis-à-Vis?

“Oh, around here, it means sitting across from each other over a glass of wine, sharing stories, and drinking together,” says Christine, “that goes all the way back to Napoleon—we say that a lot around here.”