25 Years in Wine

25 Years of Rutz – Written in Wine

In the beginning, there was wine.

Before Rutz became a restaurant, it was a wine bar – the origin of our ethos, our way of thinking, our passion. Bottles became stories, conversations became relationships, and over the years we developed a shared language with our winemakers.

25 years on, we’re not just looking back – we’re opening bottles once more: wines from defining years in Rutz’s history, vintages that have accompanied us – from our opening to our Michelin stars, from our first steps to our hard-won convictions.

There are bottles that you don’t simply open. We have two good reasons for doing so: our 25th anniversary and the sixth confirmation of our third star.

We have ‘remastered’ our dishes for the anniversary – ideas from 25 years, reinterpreted with today’s experience. These wines never needed that. They have always been exactly what they are. Time has merely revealed what lay within them: the weather, the atmosphere, the quiet energy of the vintage – becoming visible layer by layer.

Curated by Sebastian Höpfner, we are opening five wines from years that have shaped Rutz – years of our first guests, our first ‘Pass’ moments, our first stars. Today, we taste just how far we have come.

 

2001 – Launch

Riesling Auslese · Karthäuserhof · Trier · Mosel
paired with pear & toasted koji, oxalic acid

Two decades in the cellar have given this Riesling what only time can bestow: a petrol-like depth, precise sweetness, and an acidity that transforms into a sense of longing. A wine that knows the price of beginnings. With the pear, the koji and the oxalic acid – three expressions of maturation – the circle is complete.

2004 – Marco Müller arrives

Riesling Spätlese Herrkretz · Wagner-Stempel · Siefersheim · Rheinhessen
paired with sand-roasted carrot & chicken skin, tarragon

Volcanic red slate, subtle fruit: peach, apricot, delicate residual sweetness. A wine that supports without dominating. It complements the natural sweetness of the sand carrot and prolongs it throughout the course.

2007 – First Star

Riesling P. C. Wachenheimer Rechbächel · Dr. Bürklin-Wolf · Wachenheim · Pfalz
paired with rabbit & nasturtium, white beetroot

Premier Cru from red sandstone and limestone. A warm year, ripe phenols, clear structure. The peppery sharpness of the nasturtium and the tart sweetness of the white beetroot find their perfect complement in the wine – precise, supportive, focused.

2016 – Second Star

Riesling Erste Lage Biengarten · Ökonomierat Rebholz · Siebeldingen · Pfalz
paired with tomato & spring trout, whey

Grown biodynamically on shell limestone, this wine combines minerality with ripe fruit. The 2016 vintage displays both clarity and depth. In harmony with the umami structure of tomato, trout and whey, a dialogue of calm and precision emerges.

2020 – Third Star

Blaufränkisch Ried Gemärk · Weingut Ernst Triebaumer · Rust · Burgenland
paired with lamb & wild chives, lettuce, dashi

In 2020, the world stood still. Three stars emerged. The Blaufränkisch embodies this tension: delicate, dark, spicy, patient. It does not impose itself – it simply remains. Just like this moment itself, which took time to gain significance.