One of the Mosel's Oldest Estates
In the year 908, the estate now known as Immich-Batterieberg is first mentioned in writing — in a document of the last East Frankish Carolingian king, Ludwig IV. In the 12th century the property was given to the Princes of Esch — hence today's name "Escheburg" for the main building. The Immich family took over in 1425 and shaped the estate over centuries. In the deep cellar a Roman basalt column still stands, presumably recycled from a nearby Roman estate — a material testimony that wine has been made here for two millennia.
After turbulent times, in 2009 Gernot Kollmann together with a small team dared a new beginning. Today Immich-Batterieberg is again counted internationally among the Mosel's top addresses — with an uncompromising style that has long been considered a benchmark in the Riesling world.
Batterieberg — A Monopole Vineyard with an Explosive History
The name "Batterieberg" goes back to an unusual episode in Mosel history: between 1841 and 1845, Carl August Immich had the rebellious rocky outcrops of the steep slope blasted apart with so-called detonation batteries in order to make the mountain cultivable at all. That act shaped the vineyard — and gave it its name.
Today the Enkircher Batterieberg is the estate's monopole vineyard, framed by the Enkircher Zeppwingert and located in the Starkenburger Fels. Grey slate with an unusually high quartzite content, rocky outcrops, old dry-stone walls — a vineyard that tells its own story. The Rieslings from here are powerful, firm, multi-layered — and legendary for keeping for decades.
Four Vineyards, Four Voices
Alongside the Batterieberg the estate farms three further top vineyards, all on extreme steep slopes and with old, often ungrafted vines:
The Enkircher Zeppwingert lies directly next to the Batterieberg, on dark grey slate — here grow the estate's oldest vines, and from here come the firm, masculine, powerful Reserve wines. The Enkircher Ellergrub on finely weathered blue slate brings forth the estate's most subtle, finest and most elegant Riesling — silky texture, mineral depth, tension at the highest level. The Enkircher Steffensberg is a pure south-facing slope behind the village centre, with deep, copper-red soils — powerful but accessible Rieslings, ideal food companions. And the Trabener Zollturm, the latest acquisition, an extreme steep slope around an old customs tower, of grey quartzite slate.
In the Cellar — Uncompromising Consistency
In the cellar the team works with a consistency rare even on the Mosel: 100% spontaneous fermentation, exclusively neutral wooden casks of various sizes, no cultivated yeasts, no fining, no clarifying agents. What lands in the glass is the direct translation of the slate, the vines, and the vintage.
Sometimes the wines do not ferment fully through — and that is exactly what is intended. With some time on the skins and occasional fine residual sweetness, they are conceived for the table: three-dimensional, full, deep in the mouth, with tannins and bitterness deliberately meant to accompany food. This is Mosel Riesling for the experienced — and Riesling that gains immeasurably with age.
What We Particularly Value
At Wein & Nielsen we carry the estate's complete Mosel range: from the CAI Riesling as a fine, tense entry, through the Detonation and the Escheburg Alte Reben — a cuvée from the four top vineyards with vines over 60 years old — to the four Großen Lagen: Trabener Zollturm, Enkircher Steffensberg (also as a rare Auslese), Enkircher Ellergrub, Enkircher Batterieberg Monopol, and the rare Zeppwingert Reserve from the estate's oldest, ungrafted vines. Plus the Jour Fixe Riesling Brut Nature, the traditionally bottle-fermented Sekt. A selection of white wine through which you can come to know the entire Mosel depth of Immich-Batterieberg.
A Personal Connection
Whoever visits Gernot and his team in Enkirch senses immediately what makes this estate distinctive: the stillness with which work is done here, the deep understanding of every parcel, and the feeling that here it is not a single person but a well-rehearsed collective making wine — wines that don't seek to please, but to be true. The Mosel from its most uncompromising and most beautiful side.
Our Selection - Direct from the Estate
At Wein & Nielsen you'll find the Immich-Batterieberg range direct from the estate. Hand-selected, cellar-door prices.
