Weingut Brüder Dr. Becker is a German wine grower and

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

producer based in Ludwigshöhe, in the

Rheinhessen wine region Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (, ) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is ...

, Germany.Joel B. Payne (Editor): ''Gault&Millau WeinGuide Deutschland 2014'', , p. 788. Weingut Brüder Dr. Becker is a member of the

Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter e.V. or the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates, is an association of more than 200 wineries in Germany that promotes binding quality standards and – since 1990 – also ecological management o ...

(VDP) since 1971.

History

The Becker family winery was founded in the middle of the 19 century. Later, as bricklayer Franz Becker was involved in the renovation of the Katharinenkirche, Oppenheim after the merger of the Lutheran and Reformed congregation in 1822 and his brother Johann Becker, working as an advocate in the administration of the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The grand duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). It assumed the name ...

became the

eponymous An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

owners. But it was after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when the family focussed on wine growing in the Ludwigshöhe estate. The owners started the environmentally sustainable turnaround already in the 1970s and changed over to organic viticulture. The winery is one of the founding members of the Rheinhessen regional syndicate of the Ecovin movement, the oldest regional association of the German association of organic viticulture (Ecovin). Lotte Pfeffer-Müller is its chief executive officer.''Eichelmann 2009 – Deutschlands Weine'', p. 694. Since 2008 also

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...

certification program was implemented in the estates philosophy. The estate house of the winery Brüder Dr. Becker, in the Mainzer Straße 3 consists of a four-sided yard whose main house has a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

building, partly with timberframe. It was erected around 1830. A baroque transformation took place around 1896. The buildings are classified as cultural monument of the local community of Ludwigshöhe in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Vineyards and wine

Dr. Becker works with 11 hectares vineyards in the hilly southern

Rhenish Hesse Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (, ) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is ...

. The individual sites Falkenberg, Paterhof and Tafelstein (Dienheim), as well as Teufelskopf (Ludwigshöhe) are located in the fertile glacial

Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...

, with its gentle slopes and almost

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

. Some of these are selected sites, capable to produce ″

Grosses Gewächs The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented by the German Wine Law of 1971. Nearly all of Germany's vineyards are delineated and registered as one of approxi ...

″, top-level dry wines.

References

{{portal bar, Wine Becker, Brüder Dr.