Only those who know great wines can make great wines.

Our view into the distance still inspires our work by the river Nahe, just as it always has done. The Pieroth family has felt at home around the globe from early on, travelling constantly to the most beautiful wine locations on earth. True cosmopolitans, in fact. Nothing has changed in this respect. As ambassadors for the Nahe region and also for German wine as a whole, we allow our experience and enthusiasm to flow into the character of our own wines.

The Pieroth Estate on the Nahe

The Pieroth family’s estate, located in the very centre of the village of Burg Layen, is an inspiring place packed with history. The Pieroth family settled in the Nahe region back in 1675 and started to sell great wines at the beginning of the 20th century.

In the Magic Triangle

At the confluence of the Rhine and the Nahe, in the magical triangle formed by the wine-producing regions of Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Nahe, various terroirs come together in a way unlike anywhere else in Germany. There are 180 varieties of soil in the tightest possible space here. This is unique in Germany and rare even in Europe.

Pieroth Estate
Pieroth Estate

Unique soil diversity

The variety of this range of soil structures is reflected in our locations. The terroir of the Pieroth estate is defined predominantly by five types of soil. In combination with other soil structures, this creates a complex variation of soils.

Five
out of
180

Conglomerate

Coarse-grained, easily warmed sedimentary rock washed down from the Hunsrück mountains into the Nahe plain 280 million years ago. Consists of at least 50% gravel or scree.

Creates subtle aromas of peach, apricot and yellow apple
Conglomerate

Quartzite

River sediments aged into sandstone. A very hard rock created through the high pressure and temperature when the mountains were formed.

The subtlest hints of peach and apricot and striking fruit acidity
Quarzite

Loess

A rich, fertile soil that is found on almost all the sides of the Nahe valley. Fertile dust and humus from the tundra was carried to the front of the Hunsrück massif in the Ice Age.

Robust, full-bodied wines. Yellow-ripe fruits such as Mirabelle plums and pears predominate
Loam

Shale

A crumbly, coloured rock revealed along the lower parts of the Nahe when the sea receded. Intensive weathering wore down the hard shale.

Aromas of lemon, grapefruit, peach with a characteristic herby note
Shale

Gravel-sandy loam

A light soil that retains moisture well. Originating in the Ice Age, when melt waters tore away the stone, creating deep river valleys. Today, the oldest gravel terraces are 80 to 100 m above the current river level.

Delicate, lively wines with a fragrance of yellow apple, lemon and grapefruit
Gravel-sandy loam
Conglomerate

Conglomerate

Coarse-grained, easily warmed sedimentary rock washed down from the Hunsrück mountains into the Nahe plain 280 million years ago. Consists of at least 50% gravel or scree.

Creates subtle aromas of peach, apricot and yellow apple
Quarzite

Quartzite

River sediments aged into sandstone. A very hard rock created through the high pressure and temperature when the mountains were formed.

The subtlest hints of peach and apricot and striking fruit acidity
Loam

Loess

A rich, fertile soil that is found on almost all the sides of the Nahe valley. Fertile dust and humus from the tundra was carried to the front of the Hunsrück massif in the Ice Age.

Robust, full-bodied wines. Yellow-ripe fruits such as Mirabelle plums and pears predominate
Shale

Shale

Mürbes, gefärbtes Gestein, das durch das zurückgezogene Meer an der unteren Nahe freigelegt wurde. Intensive weathering wore down the hard shale.

Aromas of lemon, grapefruit, peach with a characteristic herby note
Gravel-sandy loam

Gravel-sandy loam

A light soil that retains moisture well. Originating in the Ice Age, when melt waters tore away the stone, creating deep river valleys. Today, the oldest gravel terraces are 80 to 100 m above the current river level.

Delicate, lively wines with a fragrance of yellow apple, lemon and grapefruit

The team

In the winery and the cellar, our craft is defined by what we do and what we don’t do.

Pieroth Team

Dirk
Friesenhahn

sets the course

Dirk is a trained master cooper and cellarer who has learned wine-making from the ground up. After gaining experience for many years in many well-known companies in the wine and sparkling wine industry (including Schloss Johannisberg, Henkel & Söhnlein, Seagram), he has now been with Pieroth for 17 years. He took over the management of the estate in 2019.

Dirk is fanatical about quality and takes his inspiration from his excellent contacts with many wine-makers from all over the world. Dirk’s curiosity and delight in making new discoveries are reflected not only in wine but also in his other great passion – cooking and food.

Oliver
Dries

is the creative artist

Oliver has wine in his blood. His family is part of a long wine-producing tradition, both with their own vineyards and with the Hessischen Staatsweingütern Kloster Eberbach – the vineyard of the Eberbach Monastery. As master cellarer of the Assmannshausen State Winery, Oliver was responsible here for the highest-quality wines. During subsequent steps in his career at well-known estates in the Rheingau and Kaiserstuhl region in Baden, Oliver was able to expand his knowledge by working with various terroirs and wine styles. This is reflected in his work with the Pieroth Estate, where he has been facing the challenges of the soil diversity along the Nahe since 2014 as Operations Manager in the vineyard and wine cellar.

Andreas
Gregori

in a daily battle with the elements

Andreas is a trained vintner and has been working with the Pieroth Estate for 17 years. He comes from a family of vintners in the Nahe region. With his expertise, he makes sure that everything runs just as it should do in our vineyards. In his leisure time, he is also closely connected to nature as a bee keeper, enjoying the various flavours of honey – the essence of the natural world around him – like wine.

Norbert
Sturm

in a daily battle with the elements

For Norbert, wine making runs in the family and so his career path to becoming a master wine maker was mapped out almost from the start. Norbert’s passion for nature and for producing wine is just as intense today as it was at the beginning of his working life. His skill in handling soils and plants has formed the basis for our wines for 16 years now. If ever Norbert allows himself time off, he loves to tackle the elements by ship – with a good wine on board, of course.

Lennart
Friesenhahn

the right-hand man in the cellar

Lennart comes from a wine-producing family and continues with the family passion. Already during his studies at the famous University of Viticulture in Geisenheim, he gained practical experience at the Pieroth Estate and supporting Oliver Dries in particular in the work in the cellar. After successfully completing his studies, Lennart has now taken on the responsibility of cellar master at the winery.

A man with a truly individual mind, he loves to innovate and is interested in new concepts in wine making. Besides wine, he enjoys cultivating regional traditions and making an exceptionally good  “Äppelwois” (apple wine).

Pieroth
Wines

Great Riesling & Pinot varietals from exceptional locations form the focus of the wine portfolio.

Pieroth Wines
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