Maxime Open 2025
We were once again out and about in Rheinhessen and, at the Maxime Open 2025, this time around Saulheim, sampled wines across the entire region.
There wasn’t much left of our originally planned itinerary when we set off for Rheinhessen. Booking trains early is a bit like turning 30: you get to relentlessly witness the decline. But even without a fixed train connection, we still made it to Saulheim just fine. All in all, aside from canceled trains and delays, being able to connect to a train station is a real plus, since for me, driving a car is even more stressful. And hotel and dinner, as well as tickets for Maxime Open, were also booked well in advance. So far in advance that we still received early-bird discount emails long after the booking. Not necessarily the best idea to send those to addresses that already have tickets. Tickets with no early bird. Things like that make the inner Swabian unhappy.
So, Maxime Open 2025. Around Saulheim and Nieder-Olm, five wineries open their doors and you can travel by bus from one estate to the next. At each stop there’s something to eat and, more importantly, guest wineries also offering their wines for tasting. Unlike last year, we’re combining both days into a single post. The week before the event, with our bedroom flirting consistently with the 30-degree Celsius mark, didn’t exactly leave us feeling well-rested. So you have to pace yourself. For me, a big part is always what happens between the stops and the stops themselves. With only five stops, that’s a bit reduced, but we’ll get to that in the conclusion. Before we begin, the usual disclaimer: What appears here was good, what doesn’t appear isn’t automatically bad. Vintages are noted to the best of my knowledge, but unfortunately bottles didn’t always match the wine list. I hope I got everything noted correctly.
It all starts Saturday morning on foot through the vineyards (I was later told this was the Saulheimer Hölle) from the hotel towards Weingut Landgraf. We wanted to start punctually, and there wasn’t a stop directly in Saulheim anyway. From Landgraf itself, the Weißburgunder Saulheim 2023 stands out for me, with its fine yellow creaminess and great mouthfeel. Just like the Saulheim Hölle 2023 Riesling, with lots of eucalyptus on the nose, herbs, and great length. Weingut Beck Hedesheimer Hof brought a Cuvée Karl Brut Nature of Pinot Meunier, Auxerrois, and Weissburgunder, showing impressive brioche, fine core, and lots of drive after 48 months on the lees. The 2021 Marhans Riesling has wonderful acidity, coming across as very fruity. How well that ages is shown by the 2017 and 2014 vintages, which (unofficially) were also poured. Weingut Beiser had a beautiful Scheurebe Tabularasa 2024, intensely fruity with lots of creamy peach, but not overwhelming. Something several Scheurebe managed this weekend. Bernhard’s lineup was again great, especially the two Silvaners: Wolfsheimer 2023 unfiltered with lots of structure and drive, and Sankt Kathrin 2023 (label said 23, photo confirms, list says 21, webshop lists 20 and 21, who knows) with 20% skin fermentation, almost austere on the nose but long on the palate. Structure wine. Karl May already impressed me last year and deserves a full review. The Weißburgunder 2024 is a nice, not-at-all-boring entry-level wine with texture and drive, and the 2021 Pinot Osthofen is even better, with lots of cool cherry and focused precision without being thin. Neef-Emmich wasn’t on my radar at all, but even the Dalsheimer 2024 Riesling Ortswein already pleased me with its herbal notes and rather warm acidity. Even better were the wines from the Gundersheimer Höllenbrand, right next to Westhofener Morstein. The 2023 Höllenbrand Riesling is austere, almost medicinal-herbal on the nose with acidity reminiscent of popping candy. The 2022 Höllenbrand Pinot also has beautiful cool-spicy cherry, both on the nose and palate, with lots of structure. Impressive.
Unfortunately, on Saturday we drew the short stick with the bus service. We waited almost 50 minutes at the stop before moving on. We later learned that two of the five buses had broken down. That’s a bummer, though I guess you can’t do anything about engine failure as an organizer. The occupancy indicator via WhatsApp group is a good idea, but if you can’t drive backward and the loop takes over an hour, it ends up being pointless. “Not stopping” then just means “never stopping.” At least for that day. When the bus finally came, we skipped Thörle for Saturday and continued directly to Münzenberger in Zornheim, started with burgers, and enjoyed the beautiful courtyard.
The Mother Earth sparkling wine from the host Münzenberger had already fascinated me last year. And just like then, I still wonder how many glasses I’d find this much green pepper in a sparkling wine tasty, and if there’s a tipping point. The Decoded Poetry 2021 Riesling has drive and some exotic fruit and acidity. Nice. The 2020 Bechheimer Geyersberg from Weingut Schmitt has noticeably less drive, but more than makes up for it with charm and creaminess. We had to try the Syrah Reserve simply because it’s Syrah. It’s good but very young, still pretty rough in the tannins. In the hot courtyard, the Scheurebe Kabi 2024 from Braunewell cooled us right down. Hard to top as a summer wine. The courtyard got crowded, though, and since there were many estates waiting at Eva Vollmer, we moved on.
That we had to wait another 40 minutes or so and would rather have used that time tasting, so be it. Without a crystal ball, you couldn’t have foreseen it anyway. And mine is broken. At least this time there were several in line behind us who praised how well the buses had worked for them. So you could get lucky. The fewer buses you take in a day, the more frustrating longer waits feel, I think. Eva Vollmer was our final stop of the day. And not only for us, since the large, truly beautiful grounds also host the evening party, which we skipped to return to Saulheim in peace.
Achenbach again stood out with a great collection, echoing their last appearance on the blog. The 2023 Heerkretz is a highlight. Same goes for Eppelmann, always strong and, rightly, featured again here after last year. Mett & Weidenbach got short shrift last year at the day’s end. Pity, because they’re excellent. The Chardonnay Pinot Brut Nature shows fine yeast, creaminess, yellow fruit, and drive. The Chardonnay Ingelheim 2024 has some yogurt notes that give way to lovely yellow fruit. The 2023 Unft Chardonnay ([Unft] is a vineyard, not an abbreviation, I had to ask) is a logical evolution: more oak, a finer but still present lactic note, finer fruit. Superb wine. And the double-decanted Pinot Pares 2022 also shows where things are headed. Perhaps a bit rough in the tannins still, but great fruit and structure. Top stuff. At Weingut Meiser, you can not only taste a mature 2017 Eiskeller Reserve Rotenfells Riesling, but buy it at the estate as well. Clearly defined, with lovely fruit and mature notes on the finish. Also very good: Scheurebe Kabi 2024 with drive and surprisingly little overt fruit. Milch still makes superb Chardonnays, among which the Blauarsch Reserve 2017 stands out for intensity and structure. From Weingut Mertz, the Eckelsheimer Porphyr 23 with its very, very fruity acidity really stood out. We couldn’t pass up the labels with animals from Rappenhof. The sparkling wine in the bottle is indeed lovely. The only Riesling sparkling wine we tried all weekend was at Weingut Werner and, after 55 months on the lees, it’s impressively lively on tongue and palate. Great sparkling. Zimmermann was already on the review list last year but we didn’t make it. The 2023 Höllberg Riesling is stony, austere, with superb structure. And the more mature 2017 Reserve Riesling from the treasury turns it up with freshness and minerality. A must-try this year. Weingut Zöller wasn’t on my radar. But their Riesling Eckelsheimer Kirchberg 2022 has brilliant structure, lots of spice, and rather mild acidity. The Silvaner Alte Reben also shows real structure and substance. As more people arrived and 6 pm approached, we took one of the last buses back to the hotel.
Since this part went so well on day one, we started Sunday again by walking through the Saulheimer Hölle. This time toward Thörle. I cannot understand why this option was neither advertised nor signposted. It’s about 25 minutes on foot from Saulheim train station, the vineyards are beautiful, arriving by train is stress-free, and you skip a bus ride. A missed opportunity, in my opinion. We split the day, doing half of Thörle, then Mommenheim, then back to Thörle to make sure we catch the bus back to Saulheim. Sunday was shortened and ended already at four.
That Bischel makes great wines is no secret. But the Hundertgulden 2023 is still real “potential drinking.” A few years in the bottle will do it good. Superb tension in the wine even now. Both Pinots from Bunn Strebel have beautiful cool fruit, are clear, precise, and very good, you start to recognize a signature. The Silvaner Steinkreuz 2022 from Gunderloch is reductive, long, lots of stone fruit and texture. That’s excellent. Just like the Nierstein 23 Roter Hang Riesling with cool herbs, fresh acidity, and pome fruit on the palate. Heiligenblut is an experience across the whole collection. For those interested, you can drink Heiligenblut on the next WRINT Flaschen Podcast in August. We’ll definitely join in. Information available from Christoph Raffelt. And even on a cloudy Sunday with light drizzle, Scheurebe Kabi still hits the spot. I’m slowly becoming a fan. We just had Sander on the blog recently. The Chardonnay Amphore is superb.
Today the bus likes us and arrives almost simultaneously with us at the entrance. On to the last stop, to Mommenheim and Werther-Windisch. The (for us) best food of the weekend. Risotto from Sir Otto and pastel de nata are hard to beat. And there was proper espresso as well. The hosts themselves, Werther-Windisch, were also new to me. The Silvaner Brut Nature 2017 with an incredible 72 months on the lees quietly asks: “Why not more like this?” One of the best Silvaner sparklings I’ve ever had. Brilliant mousse, brioche, tremendous drive. The 2022 Lieth Silvaner aged in stoneware is austere, with hay and herbs on the nose and stony beauty on the palate. The Schlossberg 2022 Riesling has a similar style, herbal, yellow fruit, great structure. A discovery for me. Wagner-Stempel brought the big guns this year. Their first self-made sparkling Tirus was there. Brilliant! Porphyr 2024 is, as always, highly recommended and the 2023 Heerkretz already shows what it can do, clear, long, intense, pure Riesling. The Morstein 23 Riesling from Rettig smells like a mix of multivitamin juice and glue. But in a good way. And the structure on the finish is also great. Weingut Wechsler will soon be featured on the blog. The only English-language stop of the weekend, and the wines are a lot of fun. The La Roche 21 from Espenhof really snaps your tongue into shape. A lean ride on the razor’s edge. The Kisselberg Pinot 19 then picks you up again with wonderful fruit, a touch of forest floor, and fine tannin. Schätzel gives a tour of their cloudy wines. Every wine shines and stands out at the event, yet fits right in. Especially Steiner Riesling and Silvaner, wines from several vintages made with a Solera-like system, are fantastic. The Fuchs Riesling with its flor yeast influence is a mega wine. First natural Riesling, then a touch of sherry on the palate. Wonderful. The perfect finale for this stop.
What remains? I have even less of a feel for the 2024 vintage than I did for 2023 last year. It felt like even fewer 2024s were poured, but I don’t have precise numbers. That might also be because so much was lost to frost in 2024. I’ve definitely made some discoveries that I’ll seek out again over the next year. The shorter Sunday is a problem for us. Those two fewer hours are really missed. Sunday is the better day for tasting anyway, simply because it’s less busy and you can have better conversations. We were extremely lucky with the bus and still just managed only two stops. If you are unlucky, want to do more, or need to take the bus more than twice, impossible. That calls the Sunday into question for us and, due to the longer journey, the whole weekend. Of course, I understand the winemakers too, it’s Sunday, and they’d rather pack up at four than at six. The stops are a good topic: when does estate-hopping end and when does it start to feel like a distributed wine fair? I don’t have a good answer, but especially the Eva Vollmer stop felt more like a small wine fair. And the thing about walking from one estate to the next in the same town, discovering, finding so many wineries, the wine scavenger hunt you get on the Mosel, that’s a bit missing. Still, it was a great weekend with really exciting wines. And I wouldn’t trade places with those on the other side of the table. The fourth bachelorette party, I couldn’t mentally survive that. If you want to try Rheinhessen, Maxime is absolutely worth it.
And a genuine tip at the very end: if you find yourself in Saulheim, although I can’t imagine why, outside such an event, but people do live nearby or could make a slight detour, go eat at Mundart. And drink. The wine list is large, full of Rheinhessen wines, prices are more than fair, many wines are available from several vintages, and the food matches the wine. The fish soup was brilliant, everything else as well. Maybe we’ll come back just for that.
