30 winemakers under 40 to watch (part one)

9: Jochen Dreissigacker (32)

Rheinhessen revival, Jochen Dreissigacker (try saying that after a few Rieslings), is currently crafting some of Germany’s most exciting wines that display both purity of fruit and upfront aromatics. One of the rising stars of the German wine scene, Dreissigacker took over the running of his family estate in 2005.

Last year, he was voted one of the 100 most influential Germans under 40 by German GQ magazine and had his wines served by Angela Merkel to US President Barack Obama at a dinner hosted by the German Chancellor in Berlin last June. Dreissigacker abandoned his studies as a tax consultant to pursue his winemaking dream. At the estate, he favours minimum intervention, only using wild yeasts and stainless steel vats, having converted to organics in 2010.