We meet in Bechtheim, in the town center: an alley leads to a typical Rheinhessen farmstead. It has been beautifully renovated in gray and white, like many wine-growing businesses. Forty-year-old Jochen Dreissigacker appears calm on the outside—but inside, he is drawn further: here in these historic rooms, in the wine shop, he cannot show me his vision.

We drive out of town – away from the showroom, towards his vision of a modern winery. Wow – I hadn't imagined the new premises would be so big: in the Bechtheimer Heiligkreuz location, a terraced winery is nestled in the vineyard. A green roof on three levels, with a narrow band of windows underneath. Despite its size, the building blends harmoniously into the landscape. The winery is cut nine meters deep into the slope, adapting to and absorbing the topography of the Rheinhessen hills. The building follows the winemaker's terroir philosophy: the wine is processed in the soil where the vines grow.

What led this young winemaker to take on a project of this magnitude? “Go study something practical!” his parents, Frieder and Ute Dreissigacker, advised him. His older brother Christian was supposed to take over the classic 12-hectare Rheinhessen estate, complete with a wine tavern and 45 wines on the menu. So Jochen started out working at a tax accounting firm—but his love for wine remained. He completed his winemaking training at the renowned Bergdolt (Palatinate) and Keller (Rheinhessen) wineries—and passed his exam to become a viticultural technician in Weinsberg. In 2002, his parents handed the business over to him and his brother Christian—Jochen was just 21 years old at the time, and his brother was only slightly older.

Jochen brings new ideas to the family business, and Christian helps him put them into practice. “Terroir” is the magic word for the winery’s new identity. Jochen purposefully sought out vineyards with old Riesling vines. He exchanged them for plots planted with Dornfelder vines. But the focus didn’t stop at Riesling: the entire operation was turned upside down and realigned. Christian chose a different path: When the opportunity arose, he acquired the Dr. Koehler winery in Bechtheim and focused on wines that are easy to drink, especially Burgundy varieties.

Jochen has been running the winery on his own since 2006 and continues to refine his consistent wine philosophy: focus on Riesling, spontaneous fermentation, hand harvesting, gentle grape processing, long maturation period, and organic production methods. The 48-hectare estate has been certified organic since 2020.

Jochen Dreissigacker began planning and building the impressive new winery in 2006, and in 2017 he was able to process the first harvest in the new building. The grapes are delivered in crates and transported by gravity. The tank and barrel capacities are sufficient for 1 ½ harvests: an unusually large number of small tank units enable the targeted maturation of small containers.

Wine conductor Jochen Dreissigacker works with a young, dedicated team. The wines, especially the Rieslings, display a distinctive character. Not "everybody's darling," says the young winemaker: the complex wines, highly rated by wine guides, are aimed at wine lovers who appreciate wines with character. The wines in the bottle are as sustainable as the building with its green wooden roof and photovoltaic system: matured in peace, they give wine lovers long-lasting pleasure.

"To me, sustainability is more than just a buzzword or a trend. It’s something absolutely essential," says Jochen Dreissigacker.

And that is precisely why Great Wine Capitals presented him with the “Best of Wine Tourism Award” in the “Sustainability in Tourism” category. Visitors can see the concept for themselves during guided tours of the winery.