Location and viticulture
Freinsheim is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate and lies in the Pfalz. The vineyards are located in the Rhine plain and are protected by gentle hills. As stated by the winery Rings, this creates a very warm microclimate.
The town has just under 400 hectares of vineyard area and numerous viticultural businesses. As a place for winegrowing, Freinsheim is first documented in 773 in a donation by Sigibald to the abbey of Weißenburg.
Vineyard sites and soils
The documented Freinsheim vineyard sites include Goldberg, Musikantenbuckel, Oschelskopf and Schwarzes Kreuz. Oschelskopf refers to an entire vineyard site with a distinct rise. There, loamy sands predominate; clay deposits occur in places.
At Musikantenbuckel, predominantly light loamy sands shape the soil; in valley sites, loess and influence from water are added. Schwarzes Kreuz features loamy sands, tertiary sands rich in gravel and, in places, clay. The site covers 81.3 hectares. For Rings’s vineyards, loess, clay, sandy gravel, red earth, limestone and calcareous marl are also mentioned.
Grape varieties and wine style
At Rings, in Freinsheim, among others, Riesling, Spätburgunder, Weißburgunder and Cabernet Sauvignon are grown. Their share is given as 25, 25, 10 and 10 percent respectively. For the red wine Das kleine Kreuz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Laurent and Cabernet Franc are documented.
As Rings describes it, the aim is dry wines that ferment spontaneously, with potential for ageing. The red wine cuvées Das Kreuz and Das kleine Kreuz are based on the warm microclimate as well as dry, gravelly and sandy soils. According to Rings, the wines come from the protected designation of origin Pfalz; Das kleine Kreuz is labelled Qualitätswein b. A. (Pfalz).
Cultivation and maturation
For Das kleine Kreuz, cover crops with buckwheat, clover and radish are documented, as is manuring with horse manure, removal of double shoots and the opening-up, or letting remain, of the leaf canopy. Rings, according to its own information, has held an EU organic certification since 2016.
The grapes for Das kleine Kreuz are picked by hand, selected, destemmed and transferred into the fermentation vessels without pumps. Fermentation takes place spontaneously with indigenous yeasts; maturation takes place in new and used barriques, and bottling is unfiltered. For Das Kreuz, a short time on the skins, spontaneous fermentation, 20 months’ maturation in 70 per cent new and 30 per cent used barriques, and unfiltered bottling are stated.
