American and German Winemakers Among the 7 Winners of Trophies of Excellence of the Riesling Du Monde Competition 2010

Picture: Riesling Du Monde Wine Competition in France

American and German Winemakers Among the 7 Winners of Trophies of Excellence of the Riesling Du Monde Competition 2010

On May 13-15, 2010, the Riesling Du Monde wine competition took place in Strasbourg France. The Jury awarded 7 Trophies of Excellence. It also awarded 71 gold medals and 72 silver medals.Winners of the Trophies of Excellence include 2 German and American winemakers.

7 Trophies of Excellence

Category"Générique"

AOC Alsace 2007
RIEFLE CHRISTOPHE -
68250 PFAFFENHEIM (France) Les Murailles 2008
DOPFF-IRION - DOMAINES DU CHÂTEAU DE RIQUEWIHR - 68340 RIQUEWIHR (France)

Category "Vendanges Tardives"

Strümpfelbacher Nonnenberg Auslese 2008
KUHNLE - DE 71384 WEINSTADT-STRÜMPFELBACH (Germany)

Louis Hauller 2007
HAULLER LOUIS ET CLAUDE - 67650 DAMBACH-LA-VILLE (France)
AOC Alsace 2007
GROSS ET FILS - 68420 GUEBERSCHWIHR (France)

Hochheimer Domdechaney Riesling Auslese 2007
DOMDECHANT WERNER'SCHES - DE 65239 HOCHHEIM (Germany)

Category "Vin de grande concentration"

Finger Lakes - Trockenbeeren 2008
ANTHONY ROAD WINE COMPANY - USA NY 14527 PENN YAN (USA)

71 Gold Medals and 72 Silver Medals

In addition, the Jury awarded gold and silver medals. You can find the complete list here.

www.riesling-du-monde.com/laureats2010

Trophy of Excellence Winner Weingut Domdechant Werner in Hochheim, Rheingau, Germany

I know the Weingut Domdechant Werner that is among the 7 winners of trophies of excellency, for their wine:

Hochheimer Domdechaney Riesling Auslese 2007

quite well.

The Domdechant Werner Estate is one of the leading wine producer in Hochheim, Rheingau. Even though it belongs to the Rheingau, Hochheim is actually situated along the Main river, just 30 Minutes away by S-Bahn from Frankfurt am Main central railway station. Coming from Frankfurt, you arrive in vineyards and it is a beautiful walk up the vineyards to the village and the Franz Kuenstler and Domdechant Werner Estates at the village entrance.

The Domdechant Werner Estate cultivates about 14 ha/35 acres of vines, 98% of which are planted with Riesling and 2% Spätburgunder. It produces wines of all styles, ranging from dry to lusciously sweet wines. The finest dry Riesling wines are designated Erstes Gewächs, while the finest sweet wines bear the traditional Prädikat Auslese. The red Spätburgunder wines are carefully aged in mature oak casks. Some 60-70% of the wines are exported to about 25 countries around the world, making the estate a "global player" on a small scale. Domestically, the wines are sold to leading hotels and restaurants, as well as upscale wine shops.


Pictures: Annette Schiller with Dr. Werner Michel in Hochheim and the Domdechant Werner Vineyard

In 1780, the father of Dr. Franz Werner, the renowned Domdechant (dean) of the Cathedral of Mainz, acquired from the Count York the Hochheim wine estate.

Domdechant Werner is credited with having saved the Cathedral from being demolished during the French Revolution and was responsible for its reconstruction. The Estate is now owned by Dr. Franz Werner Michel, the seventh generation of the founding family. The eighth (and possibly ninth) generation is now on the scene, as Dr. Michel's daughter, Catharina Mauritz, mother of three sons, has also become involved in the Estate's management. Both Dr. Franz Werner Michel and Catharina Mauritz were present at the tasting.

Trophy of Excellence Winner Anthony Road Wine Company, Finger Lakes Area, New York State, US

The other interesting winner as far as I am concerned is the Anthony Road Company in the Finger Lakes area for the 2008 Finger Lakes Trockenbeerenauslese.

American Wine and the Finger Lakes

The US is the fourth largest wine producing country in the world following France, Italy, and Spain. The US has produced wine for over 300 years. It is the home of several native species of grape, but it was the introduction of the European Vitis vinifera that led to the growth of the American wine industry. Today, all 50 States make wine, although not all States grow their own fruit.

New York State is with Washington State the second largest wine producer among the American States. But both Washington State and New York State dispose only of a bit more than 10.000 hectares.

The Finger Lakes is located in Upstate New York, south of Lake Ontario. The Finger Lakes encompass eleven glacial lakes, but the area around Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, and Cayuga Lakes contain the vast majority of vineyard plantings. The Finger Lakes include 4,452 hectares of vineyards, making it New York State's largest wine growing region.

Picture: New York State with Finger Lakes

Botrytized Noble-sweet Wines

Mother Nature, under normal circumstances, produces dry wines in the vineyard - everywhere in the world. All the sugar in the grapes at harvest disappears during fermentation and no sweetness remains in the wine. There are, however, plenty of sweet wines made around the world.

Different techniques exist to make a wine sweet. One of them is to let the noble rot – botrytis cinerea – suck the water out of the grape, so that the degree of sugar in the grapes is extra-ordinary high. Botrytis cinerea is a fungus that under the right conditions attacks already-ripe grapes, shrivelling them, concentrating the sweetness and acidity. The grapes end up looking disgusting but they make profound sweet white wines. The 2007 Finger Lakes Trockenbeerenauslese was produce with this method.

Botrytis cinerea is the key to the success of many of the world’s most famous noble sweet wines. The most famous ones are the Sauternes in France, the Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese in Germany and in Austria, the Austria Ausbruch and the Tokaji from Hungary.

No doubt, the first noble rot wines were created by accident - both the Hungarians and the Germans have similar stories of how the harvest was delayed for some reason, but the over-ripe grapes were vinified anyway and then the resulting wine found to be delicious.

Anthony Road Wine Company

Ann and John Martini opened the winery in 1990. It is on the west shore of Seneca Lake in the town of Torrey, about 10 miles south of Geneva.

Johannes Reinhardt is the winemaker at Anthony Road Vineyard. He joined the winery in 2000. Reinhardt is a native of Germany whose family has been in the wine business since the 1400s.

The wine was released in the Martini-Rheinhardt Selection Series. These are special wines named after the Anthony Road’s vineyard manager, Peter Martini, and winemaker Johannes Reinhardt to honor the collaboration between the vineyard and the winery.

2008 was a good year for noble rot in the Finger Lakes region, with some rain, enough heat and fog or dew in the morning at harvest time.

The 0.375 bottle costs US$ 100.

Schiller Wine - Related Postings

German Spaetlese Wines Can Come in Different Versions - I have Counted Five

How does a Sweet German Riesling Become Sweet?

A Wine Feast in the Rheingau, Germany: The 2010 Grand Wine Convention

A Combination of Extraordinary Wine and Art: Peter Winter's Georg Mueller Stiftung in the Rheingau

The Avantgarde Wine World of Dr. Martin Tesch

Impressions from the Riesling & Co World Tour 2010 in New York

Best of German Dry White Wines and Winemakers - The Falstaff 2010 Ranking

When Americans Drink German Wine - What They Choose

German Wine Basics: Erstes Gewaechs, Grosses Gewaechs, Erste Lage

In the Glass: 2007 Rheinhessen with Oysters at the Ten Bells in the Lower East Side in Manhattan

German Wine Basics: Sugar in the Grape - Alcohol and Sweetness in the Wine