Premiere in Germany: the Balthasar Ress Winebank

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Premiere in Germany: the Balthasar Ress Wine Bank

...for Wine Enthusiasts Looking for More Than a Just a Place to Store Their Wines

A first in Germany: a wine cellar accessible at all times and at once an optimal storage facility and private tasting room. Effective immediately, wine enthusiasts can store their own wines in a climatically optimal vaulted cellar of the estate’s manor. Three separate cellars with a total of 223 compartments of varying sizes are available. Wines can be tasted with friends or business partners spontaneously, day or night, in a fully equipped tasting area with modern furnishings, atmospheric lighting and soft music – all of which turn a mere storage facility into a luxurious private wine cellar.

Two experienced Rheingau enterprises – the internationally renowned wine estate Balthasar Ress in Hattenheim and the architectural firm SMP in neighboring Oestrich-Winkel – teamed up to create an architectural gem for wine enthusiasts in the vaulted cellars of the estate’s manor. Built in 1922 by Karl Ress, the second generation of the wine-growing family, the cellars have now been renovated and redesigned, primarily using raw materials from the local region, e.g. slate from a quarry in Bacharach and quartzite-gravel from the Taunus Hills – both of which, by the way, significantly influence the character of Rheingau wines. The new “old” cellars now offer an aesthetically pleasing and climatically optimal environment for storing wine.


Co-proprietor of the estate, Christian Ress, explains the motives for the construction of the wine bank as follows: “Our Riesling wines have an innate aging potential. What could be better than to offer our customers the opportunity to let these wines mature under optimal conditions and let them enjoy these wines whenever they wish in stylish surroundings?” Security is also an issue that has been considered. All wines that are cellared there are automatically insured against theft, vandalism and fire.

The 223 compartments offer space to meet all needs, ranging from 35 to 332 bottles, for a monthly fee. A niche for 150 bottles, for example, costs € 89 per month. But within the three separate cellars there is also space for serious wine collectors with a capacity of up to 5,500 bottles. Prices are available upon request. The prominent white glass facade in one of the estate courtyards (Hauptstrasse 7 in Hattenheim) marks the entrance to the wine bank. Each customer has a personal chipcard that provides access 24 hours per day.

Numerous optional services (e.g. storage of wines shipped to the wine bank, storage of wines ordered from our wine estate, etc.) make use of our wine bank particularly attractive to wine collectors with little time to attend to these small, but important, details.

Anyone interested can take a virtual tour of the wine bank online via www.winebank.de, during which the various compartments within the cellars can be seen and reserved. All details regarding the wine bank are also available directly from Weingut Balathasar Ress, Rheinallee 7, 65347 Hattenheim/Rheingau, tel +49 (0)6723/9195-0.