Weingut Meyer-Nakel

The history

This name, which includes a hyphen, originated by a wedding. In 1950, Paula Meyer married Willibald Näkel, and the small winery, which included an inn and a vineyard of about 1.5 hectares that the couple ran, became Meyer-Näkel. Even though sweet wines were more popular at the time, they were already bucking the trend by producing dry red wine.

The turning point came in 1982, when Werner Näkel took over the business. Trained as a math and physical education teacher rather than a winemaker, he initially treated the vineyard as a side business. Eventually, he began experimenting with various techniques, such as extended maceration and barrique aging. Starting with the 1987 vintage, he devoted himself to producing dry, oak-aged wines.

By the late 1980s, he had gained a reputation far beyond the Ahr and worked as a consultant for Portugal, South Africa, and Gran Canaria overseas. In 1996, he co-founded the Stellenbosch project with Neil Ellis, and in 2000, he established Quinta da Carvalhosa in Douro alongside Bernd Philippi and Bernhard Breuer.

Meike joined the family business in 2005, and Dörte joined in 2008. Both were trained as winemakers and studied at Geisenheim; Meike completed internships at Baden with Joachim Heger and at Franken with Paul Fürst to gain practical experience. Werner Näkel passed away in September 2025 at the age of 72.

One event cannot be overlooked. The Ahr flood that struck in July 2021 claimed the lives of 117 people in the valley and destroyed buildings lining the river, including Meyer-Näkel's. Winemakers from other regions came to assist with recovery efforts, and Johannes Hasselbach from Weingut Gunderloch organized one of the teams. Of the 2020 vintage, only nine barrels, which had been presumed lost after being swept away by the flood, survived, and the winery bottled them as Lost Barrels.

The vineyards

Meyer-Näkel is based in Bundesstraße, located in Dernau, and most of this winery's vineyards are situated around that village. The remaining vineyards are located in Bad Neuenahr, Ahrweiler, and Walporzheim, set on the steepest slate and greywacke slopes along the river.

Currently, the winery cultivates approximately 20 hectares of vineyards. The named vineyards include Pfarrwingert and Hardtberg in Dernau, Kräuterberg in Walporzheim, Sonnenberg in Bad Neuenahr, and Silberberg.

Kräuterberg is an extreme example: it is an old terrace vineyard managed entirely by hand, with absolutely no machinery used at any stage. Dörte Näkel considers this her proudest vineyard, and the Pinots produced here are extremely unique.

Farming is conducted using organic and sustainable methods, with the goal of obtaining organic certification. Yields are intentionally kept low. The practice of intercropping cover crops among the vine rows serves two purposes simultaneously: promoting biodiversity and preventing soil erosion on slopes that are prone to it.

The terroir

The Ahr Valley stretches for approximately 85 km, and its slopes consist of slate and greywacke, resulting in poor, stony soil. Dörte Näkel clearly explains this relationship. The barren, rocky slate soil on the steep slopes produces wines that are mineral, elegant, and taut, qualities that are clearly evident in the glass.

Sun exposure is the other half of this equation. This valley enjoys longer hours of sunshine than many German regions, and summer temperatures can reach nearly Mediterranean levels. It is precisely this that allows the Pinot Noir variety to ripen properly even in such a northern region.

Eighty percent Pinot, in two forms

The Pinot variety holds an overwhelming advantage over the Meyer-Näkel variety in both late-maturing and early-maturing types. The cultivation area is distributed roughly as follows:

• Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), 75%
• Frühburgunder (Pinot Noir Précoce), 12%
• Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), 5%
• Riesling, 5%
• The remaining 3% consists of various other varieties

Combined, the two Pinot Noir varieties account for about 80% of the vineyard area, and approximately 90% of the wine bottled by this winery is red wine.

The winemaking

Experiments conducted at Werner Näkel's winery in the 1980s established a method that is still used today: extended maceration with the skins, followed by aging in small oak barrels called barriques. The winery consistently adheres to an uncompromisingly dry style.

The grapes are harvested by hand and undergo a meticulous sorting process. This is a practical necessity in the terraced vineyards, where machinery cannot access the slopes.

The sisters describe their goal as authenticity rather than effect. Their aim is to create wines that reflect the characteristics of the vineyard, wines that are elegant, with vibrant minerality and delicate tannins. To borrow Meike Näkel's phrase, it is about bottling as much of the terroir as possible. Meyer-Näkel also distills fruit brandies.

The range, from village wine to Grosse Lage

The Meyer-Näkel lineup follows the VDP (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter) classification: It includes Estate Wines (Gutsweine), Village Wines (Ortsweine), and the top-tier Single Vineyard Grosse Lagen; the dry wines produced here are bottled as Grosses Gewächs or GG. There is also a Steillagen Selection produced on steep slopes, as well as a series called Apollinaris Meyer.

Within the GGs product line, Silberberg Spätburgunder GG and Kräuterberg Spätburgunder GG are this winery's single-vineyard red wines produced from the Grosse Lage vineyard. Kräuterberg is produced on the hand-tended terraces of Walporzheim, and Pfarrwingert Spätburgunder from Dernau also belongs to this group.

Illusion is an exception: it is a lightly pressed white wine produced from Pinot Noir and can be considered a specialty unique to this winery. Blauschiefer Dernauer Spätburgunder, also known as Ortswein, is a village-level red wine that fully captures the characteristics of the slate soil.

While red wine is the core of the winery's production, it is not the only focus. While the vineyards include Weissburgunder and Riesling, Meyer-Näkel also produces white wine, and the winery's Portugal and South Africa projects stand alongside the Ahr wine on its own list.