Hofgut Dahlem is a family owned farm in Gundersheim, Rheinhessen, currently being managed by us two brothers Lorenz and Jochen and our parents. The history of our farm stretches back at least 1250 years to when monks tended the land, growing crops and making wine for the nearby monastery, whereas our own winery’s first vintage derives only from 2020. The decades before our father focused on the agricultural part of the farm and sold all the grapes to a nearby co-op. By now we are producing wine from 3 hectares, always aiming for clean and honest wines. All grapes are picked by hand and we aren’t interfering in the winemaking process at all except a little addition of sulfur before bottling. In the vineyards we are working with different cover crops, such as peas and clover to store nitrogen from the air, mallow and canola to attract insects and phacelia, buckwheat and rye to capture phosphate and Carbon dioxide. In our opinion using the right cover crops and working them properly is the most important influence we have on the whole winemaking system and its effect on the environment. Therefore this is our biggest focus and furthermore we are also introducing that idea in our agricultural farm: We are shifting to no-till farming on some of our fields, aiming for all-year-around covered soils, to protect them from the extreme weather phenomena (heat, drought, heavy rainfall) climate change is bringing to our region. Having agriculture and viticulture side by side in one farm for us is a very interesting and important thing. In this way both parts of the farm can profit from the knowledge and experiences you make in the other part and we are able to have a wide view on the whole agricultural sector and its challenges.