"Let me take you downstairs," says Victoria Bretz, and my virtual tour of the winery begins. We climb down a steep staircase into the cozy yet chic wine bar, where customers can buy wine or enjoy a glass in one of the beautiful alcoves. We catch a glimpse of the courtyard, where guests sit under palm trees in summer and where Christmas trees are now popping up. In the age of COVID-19, virtual meetings are all the rage, and at the Bretz winery, they are the perfect way to visit.

"We are currently building a wine bar in the middle of the vineyards with a view of the Petersberg," Victoria tells me during my virtual tour. The wine bar will be the new centerpiece for wine lovers at the Bretz Winery. A bar in the middle of the vineyards with a huge terrace for relaxing and enjoying wine.

And at the same time, everything here exudes a sense of history. “My parents are the ninth generation of winemakers; I’m the tenth,” Victoria explains. The Bretz family has been growing grapes here in Bechtolsheim—a well-known wine village nestled among the rolling hills of Rheinhessen—since 1721. “I never thought I’d become a winemaker,” Victoria says with a laugh. The 26-year-old studied viticulture and oenology at the renowned University of Viticulture in Geisenheim.

She has her sights firmly set on the future; the new wine bar is set to become a hub for connoisseurs in Rheinhessen—the view of the Petersberg is quite unique in the region. On clear days, you can see the modern financial district skyline of “Mainhattan,” the heart of Frankfurt, from its summit. In prehistoric times, the waves of a primeval sea crashed here; even today, dinosaur bones and ancient shells are found in the vineyards, whose shell limestone soils lend the wine its distinctive aromas and high minerality.

“We specialize in Burgundy wines,” says Victoria. White and gray Burgundy, Chardonnay, as well as Frühburgunder and Spätburgunder—they’re all perfectly suited to the terroir around Bechtolsheim. “My parents started growing international grape varieties early on,” Victoria explains; even Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc develop their own very special character on the hills of Rheinhessen. Winemaker of the Year, Winery of the Year—2020 was a year of major accolades for the Bretz Winery.

But at the same time, they still have a soft spot for traditional grape varieties such as Kerner and Scheurebe, even the really sweet varieties. "Many winemakers have turned their backs on traditional varieties, but we haven't," Victoria emphasized: "Everyone can find something to suit their taste here, and there are also many lovers of sweet wines." 

During her studies, she completed an internship in Portugal's Douro Valley, where they produce port wine. In 2019, Victoria represented her winery at Pro Wein in Shanghai. "My grandfather already started exporting," Victoria explains. Today, they ship their wines to 15 countries worldwide, including Norway, the Netherlands, and especially Asian countries such as China and Japan.

The semi-dry wines are a perfect match for Asian cuisine, and it's as if the spirit of distant lands somehow lingers here within the old walls. The atmosphere is Mediterranean, so it's no wonder that they like to take their guests outside: on picnics in the vineyards, hiking on the Petersberg, barbecues or wine seminars in the summer.

"We’ll also have RV sites at the new wine bar," Victoria says enthusiastically. "Many visitors want to stay overnight after the wine tasting, but we often don’t even know where to send them. And we also want to be a bit of a trailblazer, opening up the area even further to wine tourism." So the 2020 Best Of Wine Tourism Award comes at just the right time—the future already feels very real. Next year, I swear, I’ll drive all the way to Petersberg the old-fashioned way and enjoy the Bretzschen wines in the hills of Rheinhessen.