Leitz Eins Zwei Zero

Since taking over his family winery of less than 3 ha, Johannes Leitz has grown his estate into the largest family-owned winery in the Rheingau and one of the largest in Germany. While many in the new generation of Rheingau families were abandoning the steep slopes of the Rüdesheimer Berg, Johannes was buying. He now owns approximately 60ha along the 20-mile stretch of the Rheingau and diligently farms over 100 additional ha to meet demand for his wines, including the Eins Zwei Zero range. You can read more about Johannes’ historical revitalization of the Rheingau and his winery here.

Johannes Leitz began making dealcoholized wines in 2016 for two reasons. First, he had a heath condition that prescribed lower alcohol consumption. Second, during a trip to Norway, a close friend and Michelin starred chef literally begged him for it. (The penalty for DUI in Norway is exorbitantly severe). Restaurants with tasting menus wanted high-quality non-alcoholic wines that would work well in pairings without compromising the dining experience. Johannes worked diligently to produce a Riesling, with its alcohol removed, that would do just that.

The introduction and success of Eins Zwei Zero is partly due to his proximity to Germany’s most famous distillation heritage. The patent for vacuum distillation – removing alcohol under vacuum pressure – was given in 1907 to a family distiller in Johannes’s home village of Rüdesheim. The US patent was given in 1908, and Prohibition in the US significantly financed exports stateside. Vacuum distillation’s gentle process allows for alcohol to be distilled at less than half the heat of normal distillation, and captured aromatic compounds are then reintroduced back into the final, now dealcoholized, wine. This is not new technology, but with a grower such as Johannes Leitz using the highest quality wines ever to be put to this purpose, it has been refined to an unprecedented level.

This work continues. By growing and sourcing wines of character and quality, and refining the dealcoholization process, Leitz Eins Zwei Zero has become a leading property in the explosive non-alcoholic category.

Soil Reports

Grey Slate

Grey Slate
Slates are debris soils where the landscape is dominated by a grey color of the weathered grey-blue Hunsrueck slates. Dark-brown humus rich topsoil is often covered by slate debris and rubble which protects the soil from desiccation. The spaces between the loose materials are therefore well aerated. It is possible to feel loess as well as clay and mineral-rich fine earth derived from weathered slate. The vines are well supplied with minerals such as potassium, magnesium, sodium and iron from the clay fraction. Slate weathers rapidly thus ensuring a continuous supply of nutrients and mirco-nutrients.
Quartzite

Quartzite
Summits of the Taunus mountain range consists of a hard rock called quartzite. The sandy sediments washed out of long gone mountain ranges were deposited near a coast during the Lover Denovian (about 400 million years ago). These deposits were soon compacted to form sandstone, which was subjected to high pressures when it became buried beneath thick layers of rocks. This resulted in a modification of the crystalline structure of the sandstone turning it into a hard quartzite and finally to Taunus mountains. The Taunus quartzite contains more than 90% quartz (SiO2) and very little impurities. Therefore, the rock has a very low carbonate and iron oxide content. The mineral nutrient content is low. The weathering processes of quartzite and slate results in solid white quartzite blocks. They are particularly wheather resistant and therefore accumulate the soil.
Red Slate

Red Slate
Here , the soil contains a combination of red clay slate and quartzite. Red slates are soft water sediments; the color comes from the iron content that has oxidized due to its arid climate, resulting in a very rocky, hard soil. It has less minerals than the rich soils of grey slate but still contains more than the quartzite soils. Vines' root systems struggle to penetrate this stony soil in search of water which drains easily; the plants cope with limited water supply by reducing the quantity and overall size of the grapes which results in low yields and highly concentrated berries.
Loess + Loam

Loess + Loam
Ice age dust is found in most vineyard soils. Storm winds moved these fine dust particles from ancient gravel beds deposited by wide rivers. The dust dropped out of the wind in shielded locations, amassing thick loess beds. The fragile substrate makes it easy for roots to penetrate deep into the soil and reach water and nutrients; the most notable quality of loess is its high water retention. This sandy loess is partially mixed with gravel sediments of the former terrace banks of the Rhine, with quartzite or slate or coarse coastal sediments from the Tertiary.