Want to learn more about wine making in Germany? Take a guided wine tasting tour of the Rheingau! In this post, I’m sharing my honest review of the day tours offered by BottleStops, a wine tour company based out of Mainz.
Disclaimer: Both the wine tasting and day tour discussed in this post were gifted by BottleStops. All opinions are my own.
Bratwurst, beer, Christmas markets, soccer — these are likely a few of the things that come to mind when you think about German culture. Wine? Not so much.
Often overlooked in favor of bottles from better-known wine regions in Europe, such as France and Italy, German wine remains an unsung hero in many parts of the world.
Enter: BottleStops. This wine tasting and tour provider based in Mainz is on a mission to introduce high-quality German wines to visitors of the region, one tasting at a time.
I was recently offered the chance to attend a 6-hour Rheingau wine tasting tour with BottleStops, and went into the experience knowing almost nothing about wine-making in Germany. Thanks to the excellent tour, I came away with a new-found appreciation for the history, quality, and beauty of German wines.
If the only German wine you’ve tried is cheap Liebfrauenmilch, it’s time you signed up for a wine tasting tour so you can finally sample the good stuff!
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What Is BottleStops?
BottleStops is a wine tasting and tour provider based in Mainz, Germany. The company was founded by Jerome Hainz in 2017 after living in Asia for more than 15 years.
What makes the day tours offered by BottleStops unique is that they’re offered in English, are capped at just seven guests, and transportation and entrance fees are all included in the booking price. And, of course, you have a wine expert on hand to pepper with as many questions as you like!
BottleStops’ tours are incredible value for money, and are not just for regular wine drinkers. I rarely drink alcohol, but I still had a wonderful time exploring the Rheingau with BottleStops.
Tasting the Best Rheingau Wines with BottleStops
The BottleStops Castles, Abbeys & Wine Tour kicked off at the Mainz central train station. Our guide, Jerome, ushered us into a cushy private van, and we were off!
My first thought upon buckling up was, this is going to be good. The van fit our seven-person group comfortably, and Jerome wasted no time in diving into the history of wine-making in Mainz and the surrounding region.
As Jerome explained the introduction of wine-making by the Romans, the “dark period” where little to no known records of wine-making survive, and the subsequent revival of high-quality wine production for use in church services, I gazed out the window at the lush vineyards rolling past us.
Our first stop of the tour was Kloster Eberbach (Eberbach Monastery). Founded in 1136, Kloster Eberbach is considered the birthplace of German wine. The Cistercian monks at this monastery improved viticulture techniques and played a pivotal role in establishing Riesling as the most popular grape variety of the Rheingau.
Jerome showed us around the monastery complex, explaining the complex history of the place in easy-to-digest chunks of information, keeping wine-making at the heart of his tour. I particularly enjoyed seeing the old wine presses that were used in the fields to squish the grapes, as well as the wine barrels in the former wine cellar.
Naturally, no stop on a wine tasting tour is complete without trying some wine! We were shown to a private table at the mezzanine level above the gift shop and wine tasting room, and Jerome talked us through a variety of VDP-certified white wines.
What is VDP? VDP stands for “Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter,” or “Association of Distinguished German Wine Estates.” Only the best of the best regional wineries are awarded this certification. It’s not something a winery can apply for, which means VDP-certified wines are truly of the highest quality!
After our tasting, Jerome whisked us off to Rüdesheim am Rhein, a postcard-perfect town along the Rhine River.
Our tasting took place at Vinothek RheinWeinWelt, which is located within the former brandy distillery of Asbach Uralt. Each room of the former distillery contained wine dispensers; using the tokens that Jerome gave us, we selected which wine we wanted to try from each room and with the simple press of a button a 30ml glug of our chosen wine was poured into our glasses.
This was one of my favorite stops on the BottleStops tour! I liked that we could customize our wine tasting experience, but that Jerome had recommendations for specific wines to try in each tasting room.
It was here that we were introduced to Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) wine, the lesser-known wine that’s produced in the Rheingau. (No, it’s not all Riesling in the Rheingau!)
Having sipped our way through the Rheingau’s finest wines, we’d worked up quite the appetite. I split a delectable cheese board with my traveling companion at the RheinWeinWelt wine lounge, and then our group was off to our final stop of the tour.
Our last tasting was at the modern-yet-cozy tasting room of Weingut Balthasar Ress, a VDP-certified wine estate that’s been producing quality Riesling and Spätburgunder wines since 1870.
We sampled a variety of wines (mostly whites) from the Balthasar Ress vineyards, including a bottle of Oestrich Doosberg Riesling from 1995 which was described as tasting like “sunshine in a bottle” — a description I heartily agree with.
Is Booking a Day Tour with BottleStops Worth It? Final Thoughts
I enjoyed every moment of the Castles, Abbeys & Wine Tour and highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about Rheingau wines. (And for anyone who — like me — rarely drinks alcohol, know that you can swish the wines in your mouth to enjoy the flavor before spitting it out into the provided spittoon. You’ll still get the full wine tasting experience!)
If a 6-hour wine tasting tour doesn’t fit into your schedule, BottleStops also offers wine tastings in Mainz. The wine tastings are capped at 12 people and take place in a private wine cellar.
If you have any questions about the wine tastings and tours offered by BottleStops, leave me a comment below or head to the Bottlestops website for more details!
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