Why it matters
The producer
Steffen James Montigny leads the estate, with Stefan Schmidt as cellar master and Andreas Kretzschmar handling sales and marketing. The work starts with estate vineyards around Bad Kreuznach: no grapes or must are bought in, so the bottles reflect fruit grown under the team’s own farming decisions. Riesling has been cultivated here for more than a century, while Pinot Noir and Chardonnay sit alongside it as grapes through which the estate presents its terrain.
The estate’s recent shape comes from a sustained farming change rather than a sudden rebrand. Conversion to organic winegrowing began in 2016, and the 2022 harvest became its first certified-organic vintage. From that vintage onward, all of the estate’s wines have official organic certification. With fruit already drawn only from its own holdings, the change joins vineyard management and bottle content closely: Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are grown, picked and made within the same estate framework.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Bretzenheim is the estate’s base in the Nahe, while its vineyards lie around Bad Kreuznach. That division matters on the label: a vineyard name refers to where the grapes grew, while Kalk & Sandstein is a named wine built from Chardonnay and Weissburgunder. Riesling’s long history at the estate supplies continuity; the Chardonnay-led blend shows that the current range is not confined to one grape.
The documented vineyard names are Krötenpfuhl, Kahlenberg, Auf’m Schlossberg, Steinberg and Narrenkappe. Steinberg is a monopole, meaning the estate alone holds that site; fruit from it can therefore remain under one grower’s control from vineyard work through bottling. The name Kalk & Sandstein appears on a separate blended wine, but the name alone does not establish the ground beneath any particular parcel.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Organic certification from 2022 follows six years of conversion, while estate-only sourcing keeps the cellar focused on grapes from the vineyards around Bad Kreuznach. That matters most where a wine’s flavour can be linked to its makeup: Kalk & Sandstein joins Chardonnay with Weissburgunder rather than presenting either grape alone. Stefan Schmidt’s cellar work receives fruit from those holdings, and the resulting wine can show fresh orchard fruit alongside oak-derived spice and richer brioche tones.
The vineyard list also makes a useful distinction. Krötenpfuhl, Kahlenberg, Auf’m Schlossberg, Steinberg and Narrenkappe are places where fruit is grown; they are not interchangeable names for a single blend. A bottle called Kalk & Sandstein instead has a documented grape composition, which directs attention to Chardonnay’s leading role and Weissburgunder’s supporting share.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range rests on Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with more than a century of Riesling cultivation supplying the longest documented thread. Named vineyards provide the estate’s site vocabulary, including the wholly held Steinberg, while the grapes provide different routes through that material. No bottle-specific tasting note is supplied for the Riesling or Pinot Noir, so their role is clearest as part of the estate’s grape focus rather than as imagined flavour profiles.
Kalk & Sandstein is the most clearly documented wine. Its 2023 debut used 80% Chardonnay and 20% Weissburgunder. The current 2024 is again a Chardonnay–Weissburgunder blend, with green apple, peach, lemon, mineral notes, spice and oak. That architecture suggests a wine where orchard fruit and citrus are carried by acidity, while oak adds a toastier register and more body than a simple fresh white.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Kalk & Sandstein 2024. It is a Chardonnay–Weissburgunder blend with a current listing and a clear sensory outline: green apple, peach and lemon, mineral notes, spice and oak, with fresh acidity and body. The wine connects several strands at once—estate-grown fruit, organic certification from the 2022 vintage onward, and Chardonnay as one of the grapes through which In den Zehn Morgen presents its Nahe vineyards.