Balthasar-Ress
Christian Ress does not describe himself as a winemaker but as an entrepreneur in the wine industry. But even as a small boy he was fascinated by plants. What started with a small herb garden in a cut wooden barrel, later expanded with a small greenhouse as a big Christmas wish, finally culminated in a respectable vegetable garden on a neighboring property, from which the family was supplied with lettuce, tomatoes and courgettes, among other things. Even then, Christian Ress was reluctant to use chemicals in his own garden. He was already experimenting with biological crop protection when he was in elementary school, and he consulted his grandfather's experienced sisters, who had been cultivating fruit and vegetables in their own garden for decades. At the age of 7, he goes to the nearby gas station and comes back with a six-pack of beers, which probably raised concerned frowns in the neighborhood. He uses the beer in the garden against snails and the nettle brew against aphids. In preparation for his work at his parents' winery, Christian Ress worked in the vineyards of his own winery and at friends' French wineries and in a nursery in the Rheingau during his school days. During and after his studies, he was involved in large companies in Franconia and Bordeaux. Nowhere does organic farming play a role. Christian got to know viticulture over many years as "conventional agriculture" - in his own business as well as in that of friends - and got used to this way of working, which is still "standard" in viticulture all over the world today.
