Many people remark that visiting with Alfred and Rolf Merkelbach at their home in rzig is like travelling into the past; not much has changed here in 50 years, including the brothers approach to winemaking. Well into their seventies, Alfred and Rolf still tend the vines and make the wines with little help: heading into the steep Wrzgarten and Treppchen to tie the posts, harvest, and then even racking off the large fuders they use for fermentation and blending. The vineyard holdings of this tiny, 1.9 hectare estate are divided between the rziger Wrzgarten, Erdener Treppchen, and Kinheimer Rosengarten. Wine cultivation is ancient on these sites, lying just off the Mosel between rzig and Erden is the excavation of a Roman press house. When most of the rziger Wrzgarten vineyards were replanted during the re-alignment of the vineyards (called Flurbereinigung), Merkelbachs vines remained on original rootstock, with an average vine age of 45 years. The Merkelbachs are firm believers in tradition, and while changes in climate and style preferences have pushed up must weights and produced profoundly riper wines, the brothers craft wines of a style more typical to an era long forgotten. Kabinetten are still refreshing, Sptlesen taste like Sptlesen, and oechsle levels rarely exceed the Pradikt range.

The Merkelbachs vinify each parcel separately, each fuder representing a different parcel. Because of their tiny cellar, their pradikt wines will never be a blend of any more than 2 parcels together, indicated by the fuder numbers on the labels AP code.