Weingut Immich-Batterieberg

The central part of the estate's buildings, which survives today, is first mentioned in 908 AD in a document of Louis IV, the last East Frankish Carolingian king, confirming a transfer of the estate to the Church. Archaeological assessment dates the base of the building probably to the second half of the 9th century, and a load-bearing basalt column in the deep cellar was probably reused from a nearby Roman estate. In the 12th century the estate was granted as a fief to the princes of Esch, rebuilt and extended, and so took its present name, Escheburg. The right wing, the Franzenhaus, was added in the 16th century, and the manor house that forms the left wing was added at the start of the 20th century in an ornate Moselle-Franconian style. The Immich family, whose winegrowing history runs from 1425 to 1989, shaped the estate's history and development, and the Batterieberg vineyard is their legacy.

• First mentioned in 908 AD; archaeological assessment dates the base of the building probably to the second half of the 9th century
• Named Escheburg after the estate was granted as a fief to the princes of Esch in the 12th century
• Immich family winegrowing history: 1425 to 1989

The estate farms four vineyards in extreme steep sites that the 1868 Prussian vineyard classification, based on Napoleon's Classification des Vines of 1804, placed in its highest classes. Ellergrub, Zeppwingert and Batterieberg lie on the Starkenburger Hang between Trarbach and Enkirch, in a slate formation particularly rich in quartzite, while the more iron-rich Steffensberg is a pure south-facing site directly behind the centre of Enkirch, with deep, copper-red soils. The Batterieberg, the estate's monopole, is surrounded by the Enkircher Zeppwingert; between 1841 and 1845 several rock outcrops there were broken up with blasting charges to clear the slope and make it easier to work, and grey slate with an unusually high share of quartzite defines the site. The Ellergrub, the estate's steepest and largest Enkirch site, lies about 200 metres upstream of the Batterieberg on finely eroded, dark ('blue') slate. In the Zeppwingert, on dark grey slate, grow probably the estate's oldest vines, ungrafted Riesling over 100 years old. The estate has a very high share of old, ungrafted vineyards. In March 2010 it announced that it had secured a further Zeppwingert parcel of 2/3 ha, covering the whole flank on the right side of the Batterieberg and planted entirely with ungrafted Riesling. The Trabener Zollturm, an extreme steep site marked by an old customs fortress built of grey, quartzite-bearing slate that stands a few hundred metres from the Enkircher Ellergrub but within Traben-Trarbach, is the estate's most recent vineyard acquisition.

• Four Enkirch sites: Batterieberg (monopole), Ellergrub, Zeppwingert and Steffensberg
• Batterieberg: grey slate with an unusually high share of quartzite; rock outcrops broken up with blasting charges between 1841 and 1845
• Ellergrub: the estate's steepest and largest Enkirch site, on dark ('blue') slate
• Zeppwingert: ungrafted Riesling vines over 100 years old on dark grey slate
• Trabener Zollturm: the estate's most recent vineyard acquisition, in Traben-Trarbach

Gernot Kollmann, from Wetter in Westphalia, began a winemaking apprenticeship at Weingut Dr. Loosen in Bernkastel in the early 1990s. After studying wine business management in Heilbronn and a stint at the Fürstlich Castell'sches Domänenamt, he worked at the Bischöfliche Weingüter in Trier and at Van Volxem on the Saar, and from 2004 he advised wine estates in Germany and abroad as an independent consultant. Since the 2009 vintage he has been responsible for running the estate and making its wines. Philipp Clementi, from Senheim downstream, farms the estate's extreme steep sites. The estate's company, C.A. Immich Batterieberg Weingut GmbH & Co. KG in Enkirch, is represented by Dr. Volker Auerbach and Roland Probst.

• Gernot Kollmann: responsible for running the estate and its winemaking since the 2009 vintage
• Earlier career: Dr. Loosen apprenticeship (early 1990s), Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier, Van Volxem
• Philipp Clementi: farms the estate's steep sites
• Company: C.A. Immich Batterieberg Weingut GmbH & Co. KG, Enkirch, represented by Dr. Volker Auerbach and Roland Probst

The estate wines (Gutsweine) include CAI Riesling and Detonation Riesling, a selection from Mosel sites. Escheburg, the village wine (Ortswein) named after the estate building, draws on the four top Enkirch sites, from vines over 60 years old, some of them ungrafted. The single-site Rieslings are Steffensberg and Briedeler Herzchen as Erste Lage, and Zollturm, Zeppwingert, Batterieberg and Ellergrub as Grosse Lage, alongside a 2023 Zeppwingert Réserve; the Zeppwingert is the source of the estate's Réserve wines. The shop also lists Spätlese and Auslese bottlings, among them a 1989 Batterieberg Riesling Spätlese halbtrocken; Sekt, including Detonation Bubbles (extra brut) and the Jour Fixe Riesling and Jour Fixe Rosé (brut nature); and Weissburgunder, Chardonnay, an unfiltered Elbling and a Monteneubel Spätburgunder red. The Jour Fixe Rosé is made by traditional bottle fermentation from Spätburgunder grown in the steep Briedeler Herzchen (90%) and Enkircher Monteneubel (10%), aged two years on the lees, with zero dosage. The ROB Spätburgunder Rosé, from the Briedeler Herzchen and a small share of Enkircher Monteneubel, was fermented spontaneously in stainless steel and aged on its full lees.

• Gutsweine: CAI Riesling, Detonation Riesling
• Ortswein: Escheburg Riesling, from the four top Enkirch sites
• Erste Lage: Steffensberg, Briedeler Herzchen; Grosse Lage: Zollturm, Zeppwingert, Batterieberg, Ellergrub
• Sekt: Detonation Bubbles (extra brut), Jour Fixe Riesling and Jour Fixe Rosé (brut nature)

Since its new start with the 2009 vintage, the estate has focused even more clearly on dry Riesling, a style it says was always cultivated here, even when the whole region favoured sweet wine. The estate describes its style as a very pure, unadorned and rather powerful Riesling with ripe, moderate acidity and pronounced structure for long ageing, the top wines in particular needing time to mature. The wines are made in both wooden casks and stainless steel tanks, largely without intervention, and kept on their full lees for a long time. No cultured yeasts, enzymes, protein stabilisers or fining agents are used, and the wines are not chaptalised, concentrated or deacidified, a practice the estate places in the tradition of the natural wines that could be labelled 'naturrein' until the 1971 wine law reform. The estate calls itself a cool-climate winery whose approach includes sustainable and organic cultivation and natural fermentation. In 2024, a year of high downy mildew pressure and low yields, all of the estate's 2024 wines were made dry.

• Clear focus on dry Riesling since the 2009 vintage
• No cultured yeasts in any wine
• Aged in wooden casks and stainless steel, long on the full lees
• No chaptalisation, concentration or deacidification

Decanter's Riesling guide includes Immich-Batterieberg in its roll-call of top Mosel producers. In Wine Spectator's report on the German 2017 harvest, Kollmann reported: 'Harvest was the earliest that people remember in the Mosel.'

• Listed by Decanter among the top Mosel Riesling producers

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.batterieberg.com/, https://www.batterieberg.com/weingut/, https://www.batterieberg.com/impressum/, https://www.batterieberg.com/cool-climate-en/, https://www.batterieberg.com/ein-neuzugang-enkircher-zeppwingert-die-zweite/, https://www.batterieberg.com/shop/, https://www.batterieberg.com/shop/grosse-lage/2024-zeppwingert/, https://www.batterieberg.com/shop/grosse-lage/2024-zollturm/, https://www.batterieberg.com/jour-fixe-rose/, https://www.batterieberg.com/vintage-2024/, https://www.batterieberg.com/shop/ortsweine/2024-escheburg/, https://www.batterieberg.com/rob-rose/, https://www.batterieberg.com/die-ersten-weine-des-jahrgangs-2022/, https://www.batterieberg.com/shop/gutsweine-praezise-frisch-leicht/2024-ca/. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (Aleks Zecevic, 22 December 2017) and Decanter (Riesling grape guide). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.