Georg Breuer

Über Georg Breuer

Transparency is the magic word at the winery Georg Breuer. Theresa Breuer casually mentions it when talking about her wine, however, it is the most important adjective not just for her wine, but for Riesling in general. The Riesling grape engages with the terroir like almost no other vine and therefor location, vintage and grape variety have a severe impact on its aromas. The winery Georg Breuer tries to have as little impact on this delicate appearance as possible during vinification. They are welcoming their guests with the same transparency, everything is unspectacular and without secretiveness. And the same is true for Theresa Breuer herself, she is open and friendly, speaks ready for press about her future plans - but not because she learned the facts by heart, but because she cares deeply for her winery. Subtly she explains the importance of the terroir, and has the same understanding of it as the French do. Power and finesse paired with riant cheerfulness and remarkable intensity – it seems the wines want to keep up with the standards of the winery.

The winery

It has not always been that easy. In May 2004 Bernhard Breuer suddenly passed away, he had always been obsessed with a perfect quality and kept the standards high. He wanted to produce a dry Riesling with character and an influence of the terroir – without any compromise. Since the beginning of the 1980ies he made his wines famous and became a well-known and highly respected person in Rheingau, Germany. He was also one of the first to found a classification committee for this regions wines and pushed hard for a strict definition of “Grand Crus”. When it turned out that his understanding of excellent quality was not reflected in this classification he left the committee and even the VDP, which is a Union of the most famous German producers. Georg Breuer and the committee were especially arguing about the cru “Rauenthaler Nonnberg”, since they were denying its highest classification.


The invaluable Riesling collection of Gerorg Breuerwinery!

Bernhard Breuer had inherited the winery from his father, Georg Breuer, and the winery today still carries his name. Georg stands for the first phase of expansion and internationalization when he took over his father`s company in 1910. Back then it was partly a wine shop and this still has influences today: the wine cellar and location is very spacious and the Breuers started collecting fine wine quite soon. The never resting Bernhard Breuer also realized projects with over wineries in Madeira, South Africa and Portugal.

Over the years they were able to acquire more and more valuable land in Rheingau, initially directly in Rüdesheim. Until 1980 they owned around 15 hectares. With the acquisition of the entire cru “Nonnenberg” in the 1990ies they bought a game-changer, since it had not only 5,6 hectares itself but also an extra-ordinary quality of soil and mico-climate. Even though it is located 20 km from the winery, Breuer took the chance and bought the land. The “Nonnenberg” consists of several plots and only the very best are used for the top wine. Today Breuer holds of around 35 hectares of vineyards, of which great parts are very steep indeed. Centerpiece and most famous plot is the “Schlossberg” cru. The Breuer team is working ecological, which is remarkable for the region, but obvious due to the quality of their wines.

Theresa Breuer

The sudden death of Bernhard Breuer was the end of an era for the winery. From the two daughters it was only Theresa Breuer who came into consideration to lead the winery. The 20-year-old Theresa had just finished school and was in the middle of an apprenticeship in the tourism industry, but quit immediately after this incident. Whether she would take over the winery was out of question for her, it was a matter of the heart since her sister had no interest in the winery. Theresa Breuer took over the winery (working together with her father`s brother Heinrich Breuer in the first couple of years) while also doing her Bachelors Degree in international wine business and an internship in Australia in Clare Valley in 2006. The operations manager Hermann Schmoranz and the cellarmaster Markus Ludén had been a great help and are still supporting her. Since 2011 Theresa Breuer is leading the winery as managing director by herself.


Theresa Breuer represents a new and very successful Generation of winemakers in Germany.

She is focusing on the vineyards and on the marketing strategy. Being a nature lover she spends a lot of time in the vineyards and the steep land is her favorite part, even though it is really a challenge to work here. With a grin she tells us, that she had been offered more steep land several times, since all the others prefer vineyards that are even with the ground and easier to work with. And Theresa Breuer is not missing out on such good opportunities. It is impossible to work there with machines and its not worth buying them for the rest of the land, so everything is done by hand: 15 workers of which 7 work solely in the vineyards. Speaking of transparency, she was one of the first wineries to participate in the association FAIR and GREEN.

The vineyards

The biggest treasures of the Breuer winery are the vineyards in Rüdesheim and Rauenthal: Rüdesheim Berg Schlossberg (3,5 ha), Rüdesheim Berg Rottland (2,1 ha), Rüdesheim Berg Roseneck (2,9 ha) and Rauenthal Nonnenberg (5,6 ha) – 14 ha are top Grand Cru vineyards from the 34 ha all together. Theresa Breuer dislikes the internal ranking of the four crus starting where Berg Schlossberg is supposedly the best followed from the Nonnenberg, Berg Rottland and Berg Roseneck. As the tasting shows, the four different characteristics are very clear. Even with the same weather conditions the vineyards aromatic profiles are differently. Nonnnenberg is a rather cool vineyard and is brilliant during hot summers, whereas it can be completely different in Rüdesheim. Only the best grapes are chosen with a total of 15-25 hl/ha, never has Breuer produced more than 18.000 bottles of the four Grand Crus in total. If you want to buy a Berg Schlossberg you need to hurry every year, depending on the vintage the 2.500 to 3.000 bottles are sold in no time. A lot of customers buy every vintage and are collecting a vertical.


The top wines of Georg Breuer. Unfortunately Berg Schlossberg his missing in this picture.

The grapes that are not used for their first wine are used for a blend called Terra Montosa, a classic second wine. Its Latin name (“steep soil”) is due to the location of the four vineyards. This wine is fascinating not only because of its excellent price-performance-ratio, but because the four vineyards are blended and the characteristic of the vintage appears a lot clearer. About 25.000 bottles of Terra Montosa are produced. Also Breuer offers an “Estate” Rüdesheim and an “Estate” Rauenthal basic wine.

80% of all vineyard is planted with Riesling, among with 3,8 hectares Pinot Noir and some small plots with Pinot Blanc. The Riesling is the center of attraction with its classic interpretation: light, precise, with many layers of aromas and a big aging potential. In this, Georg Breuer`s Rieslings are regarded as some of the very best of Germany.

Terra Theresa

The job of a winemaker is a real challenge. He must work his land like an experienced farmer, work in the cellar with the precision of a pharmacist – and sell his wines globally like a professional marketing guy. A top wine-grower must speak multiple languages, travel a lot, has to be connected with colleges all around the globe and leads his company like a top manager. Obviously not a lot of people are made for this job. But with a good team you can have it all. Theresa Breuer has a perfect team and several characteristics that make her so successful. Of course her famous Dad was something to build on and she was able to work with outstanding external preconditions. But still, we are in awe of her work. After leading the winery for 12 years now and at the age of 30, it is clear that the success is hers. And the list of awards is long and becomes longer every year. Her highlight so far was being chosen as the wine-grower of the year from a committee of 80 people.


Theresa Breuer, wine Producer of the year 2016. Also for her a very important award.

Being awarded wine-grower of the year makes her very happy since the people who voted for her were all top-class experts. To celebrate the event she threw a big party – together with her team. That`s something else we noticed, everyone is super-friendly, open and cooperative – these people are loving their job, aren`t they? “Only happy employees are good employees”, she says. Success is not just addictive; it fades away pain. Oh yeah, we almost forgot: there is a fabulous vintage of 2015 waiting in the cellar to grow to perfection. People are mingling it is a vintage of the century. Theresa Breuer differentiates, but she cannot hide the fact that it is another reason for her relaxed smile.