I reach Matthias Keth on the journey home from Dresden. The Keth winery from Rheinhessen has a wine stand at Dresden’s spring market in the centre of the city on the Altmarkt. The winery was already present at the Striezelmarkt in Dresden in December 1989, just after the fall of the wall and before the German reunification. The connection to Saxony has steadily intensified to this day. In 2014, the family even opened “Keth am Wasaplatz”, a vinotheque and wine bar with an ice cream parlour in Dresden.
Size and quality
There are several large wineries in Rheinhessen – but Keth plays a special role in this concert. Matthias and Silke Keth cultivate 80 hectares of vines – all organically grown and of very high quality. Immediately after his training as a winegrower at the end of the 1990s, Matthias started with 5 hectares of vineyards from his parents. His quality standards soon made him realize that organic cultivation is the best way to achieve wine quality.
Matthias and Silke Keth in their home region Rheinhessen. Credit: Weingut Keth
Since 2006, the Rheinhesse native has been cultivating his wines organically – now in accordance with Bioland requirements. Keth wines are also available in specialized organic wine shops. Matthias Keth has noticed a trend: “Since the pandemic, customers have placed more value on quality and sustainability – and that benefits us.” The fifth generation at the winery is really stepping on the gas: Since his parents retired, Matthias has taken over all the land and expanded it to 80 hectares.
New winery building in the vineyards
The winery, which had grown in the old village centre of Offstein, had become too small. Matthias and Silke planned the big move: in 2023, they moved into the impressive new building six hundred meters from the village in the middle of the vineyard. Practicality and sustainability are the watchwords here. To keep the building cool, for example, there are no windows on the south side. The underfloor heating always ensures the right temperature through heating and cooling. Solar panels are mounted on the entire flat roof, making the winery almost self-sufficient in terms of energy production.
The wine quality is impressive: the Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, as well as the Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays, are particularly praised by all the major wine guides. With vineyards from Oppenheim down to 200 meters near the Palatinate, the vines grow on a wide variety of soils. Top Rieslings come from the top vineyard Morstein in Rheinhessen, a high-altitude site with limestone. The Muskateller and the red wine award-winning St. Laurent are also recommended. Lufthansa also offers Keth wines on board its Business and First Class flights.
The 5,000 square meter winery building is called “Weinarkaden”. Credit: Weingut Keth
A View inside the building shows a fascinating wine lounge. Credit: Weingut Keth
Modern wine architecture
The Keths call the 5,000 square meter winery building “Weinarkaden”. The clear design and imposing entrance are impressive. In the entrance area, trained graphic designer Silke Keth has created a fascinating wine lounge with a keen sense of trends and colours. The eye-catcher is the rear wall of the wine bar with its oversized wine figures: “We wanted visitors to be really flashed!” is how Matthias describes the intention behind it. The exterior planting with trees rounds off the building with the columns. Matthias and Silke Keth have created a unique wine location.
The prize for the Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Award 2024 in the “Architecture, Parks and Gardens” category goes to “Weingut Keth”. The jury praised the generous architectural design with a vision of the future and a far-reaching view of the sea of vines.
More information
To learn more about “Weingut Keth” visit the website.
About the blogger:
TV- and wine journalist Wolfgang Junglas is responsible for tv broadcasts such as “The Election of the German Wine Queen” in the entertainment editorial department at SWR Television in Mainz. He is also a writer, president of Weinfeder e. V., president of FIJEV and lecturer at Geisenheim University, Geisenheim.
Learn more about Rheinhessen and its wine capital Mainz on their page: Mainz | Rheinhessen