Germany
BottleStops
Private Wine Guide · Germany
Credentials
Consultant for German Wine · Spanish Wine Scholar · PAR Wine Master · International wine competition judge
Languages
English · German
Tour style
Private and small group · Day tours and multi-day
Jerome grew up in the heart of Germany's wine regions, born to a family from Champagne. He spent fifteen years in Asia before returning to Europe and founding BottleStops in Mainz in 2017, with a specific mission: to give serious English-speaking visitors a way into German wine culture that doesn't exist on most tour platforms. Mainz is Germany's designated Great Wine Capital, thirty minutes from Frankfurt, and sits at the center of five distinct wine regions.
Marion, the operation's lead guide, brings the credential depth. She holds the Consultant for German Wine designation, Spanish Wine Scholar (Wine Scholar Guild), and PAR Wine Master certifications, and judges regularly at international wine competitions including the Organic Wine Award International and PIWI Award International. Germany's wine regions are among the most technically complex in the world. Marion guides them at the level they deserve.
BottleStops has been recognized with a Best of Wine Tourism Award from the Great Wine Capitals of the World and has been featured in Reader's Digest and Food Wine and Travel Magazine.
Germany's serious wine producers are largely invisible to English-speaking visitors. BottleStops has spent nearly a decade building relationships with growers across the Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Mosel, Nahe, and Mittelrhein who work with small groups by prior arrangement.
- Small family estates in Rheinhessen not accessible through standard booking platforms
- Rheingau producers including historic sites such as Kloster Eberbach accessible through prior relationship
- Mosel, Saar, and Obermosel growers visited on private multi-day itineraries
- Nahe and Mittelrhein estates included for travelers who want to move beyond the well-known appellations
- Cellar visits with winemakers available on private tours by arrangement
Private tours are built around the guest's regions of interest and can be customized from a single day to a multi-day itinerary. Groups are capped at seven on day tours; private tours offer more flexibility on pace and depth. All tours operate in English and German. Transportation is included.
Private and small group tours available · By inquiry
Send an inquiry →This operator was personally evaluated by Michelle Ryan: WSET Level 3, French Wine Scholar, owner of an IATAN-accredited travel agency. Vetting criteria: guide credentials, access to producers not available through public booking platforms, and knowledge intake process. Not every operator we evaluate makes it onto this site.