The Rheinhessen suffered from over a century of (mis)use for sheer bulk production. Glorious, old vine vineyards sitting on steep, calcareous outcrops were largely forgotten in favour of high yielding sites lower down the hills. In recent years, with the movement to craft better quality wines, the Rheinhessen has a had a series of rising stars (particularly Klaus Peter Keller) creating sublime bone dry Rieslings that have achieved cult status. One of Keller’s protégés and neighbours, young Katharina Wechsler, took over her family winery in 2012 and has quickly become an ascending star in the region. She sources from “Grand Cru” level vineyards Kirchspiel and Morstein (used by Keller for his top bottlings), as well as her family’s monopole vineyard site, Benn, to make nervy, complex, age-worthy wines using biodynamic practices, spontaneous ferments, minimal intervention and eschewing most fining and filtration. She also makes a series of “Natural”, funky wines with extended skin contact. These world class wines are stunningly affordable.