schiller-wine: Best German Wines and Winemakers – Stephan Reinhardt's Favorites/ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (December 2019)

Picture: Christian Schiller and Caroline Diel. See: Caroline and Armin Diel, Schlossgut Diel (Nahe Valley), Presented their New Wines (Vintage 2012), Germany

A few weeks ago, on December 1, German wine journalist Stephan Reinhardt published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung his favorite German wines and favorite German winemakers of the year – in German (Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 1. Dezember 2019).

Below please find his list of favorites with his comments, which I translated into English; I also added pictures of some of Stephan's favorites.

Pictures: Stephan Reinhard and Stuart Pigott at the 2019 Weinbörse in Mainz. See: Attending the 2019 VDP.Weinbörse - Vintage 2018 - in Mainz - Germany-North Tour 2019 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential Riesling

For many years, this annual list used to be compiled by Stuart Pigott. Since early 2019, the by-weekly column "Reiner Wein" in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung as well as the annual favorites in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung are handled by Stephan Reinhardt, who is well known for working for the "Robert Parker Wine Advocate", being in charge of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Austria and the Loire Valley. Only a few weeks ago it was announced that "Michelin" had fully taken over the "Robert Parker Wine Advocate".

For last years' lists, see:

Best German Wines and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2018)
Best German Wines and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2017)
Best German Wines and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2016)
Germany’s Best Wines and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2015)
Best German Wines and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2014)
Best German Wines and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2013)
Best German Wines and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (2012)
Best German Wine and Winemakers – Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (2011)

Stephan Reinhardt's Favorites

Winzerin des Jahres/ Winemaker of the Year
Caroline Diel of Schlossgut Diel, Nahe

Stephan Reinhardt: I have already expressed my delight about her last two collections - mostly based on the years 2017 and 2018 - in my column. Alreay then, Caroline Diel would have been a favorite for me for the winemaker of the year title, and she was able to maintain her position even after hundreds of wines and dozens of collections that I tested afterwards. It is not only the outstanding quality of her always gastronomically thought and therefore always profound and structured, never superficial wines that entitles her to another certificate from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung to receive (she was already creator of the best sparkling wine in 2016). The variety of the different wines she knows how to handle is simply breathtaking. Diel can do it all, and she does it pretty well: Sekt, Riesling from dry to noble sweet, Pinots from white to gray to late. You could design a multi-course meal with her wines and no pairing would be a compromise. After eleven years of hard work and also thanks to the possibly inherited talent, she has truly earned the title.

Picture: Christian Schiller with Armin and Caroline Diel at Schlossgut Diel. See: Visiting Armin and Caroline Diel and their Schlossgut Diel in Burg Layen in Germany

Pictures: Tasting with Sylvain Taurisson Diel at Schlossgut Diel, Nahe – Germany-North Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2014)

Pictures: In the Vineyards with Caroline Diel and Anouk. See: Visiting Armin and Caroline Diel and their Schlossgut Diel in Burg Layen in Germany

Weißwein(macher) des Jahres/ White Wine (Maker) of the Year
2017 Rheingau Riesling Landgeflecht Unikat, Peter Jakob Kühn, Oestrich

Stephan Rheinhardt: Although Peter Bernhard Kühn thinks that his best Sankt Nikolaus Riesling Grosses Gewächs is the 2017 that I already praised in this paper in the end of August. But that doesn't mean that he couldn't put one on top of it. The 2017 Rheingau Riesling Landgeflecht Unikat, selected from an old parcel in the quartzite-containing Doosberg, will not come onto the market until late summer 2020. But since I have already been able to taste the wine and the 2016 is almost sold out, we recommend that you reserve the wine now - consider that for a table at the “Noma” you have to wait longer. From the more than 16 to 20 months in 600-liter wooden barrels on the whole yeast fermented and aged Landgeflecht, there is always only around 1200 bottles available, and the 2017, bottled in April, firmly structured and beguilingly salty, combines the enormous complexity and concentration of biodynamically produced grapes with the purity, power and vibrant mineral sustainability of the best plot in the Doosberg. It is one of the greated dry Rieslings in the world, which I have enjoyed drinking for years. You can't get more love!

Picture: Christian Schiller and Peter Jakob Kühn in Kiedrich, Rheingau, see: Extraordinary Views of the Rheingau Vineyards - A Spectecular Helicopter Flight over the Rheingau with Rheingau Winemakers, Germany

Picture: Annette Schiller with Peter Jakob Kühn in Berlin

Pictures: Weingut Peter Jakob Kühn in Östrich, Winkel – Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)

Rotwein(macher) des Jahres/ Red Wine (Maker) of the Year
2016 Jaspis Spätburgunder Alte Reben, Weingut Ziereisen, Efringen- Kirchen

Stephan Rheinhardt: The family business in Markgräflerland is still a mixed farm (without cattle), and anyone who travels there, which is definitely recommended, will find himself/ herself on a farm that exudes charm and warmth. The daily hustle and bustle finds its beneficial counterpoint in the wines, which are among the best in Baden: Gutedel, of course, but also all types of Burgundy varieties. My favorite of the year - the 2016 Pinot Noir 10\4 produced for the first time - will only be available in a year or two. It's a good thing that the trained carpenter (who became a winemaker) Hanspeter Ziereisen makes a lot of Pinots. I love them all because of their clear, fleshy fruit, their liveliness and elegance, which is paired with substance and inner calm. Not its most expensive, but for me the most beautiful Pinot Noir on the market is the 2016 Jaspis, which has matured on the lees in Burgundy barrels for 21 months and was bottled unfiltered. The wine seduces like Don Giovanni seduces poor Zerlina: with great sophistication, elegance and the same warm-toned timbre that lets a farmer's wife move to the castle. The selection of 70-year-old vines, the powerful 2015 Pinot Noir Jaspis Alte Reben, will come on the market in spring. A splendid wine and it will be a world premiere at the Gala Dinner.

Pictures: Massive Tasting at Weingut Ziereisen, with Hanspeter and Edeltraud Ziereisen. See: 2 Cellar Tours and 1 Tasting at Weingut Ziereisen in Efringen, Markgräfler Land, Baden, with Hanspeter and Edel Ziereisen - Germany-South and Alsace 2018 Tour by ombiasy WineTours: Baden, Alsace, Pfalz and Rheinhessen

Sekterzeuger des Jahres/ Sekt Producer of the Year
Gerlinde and Frank John, Königsbach, Pfalz

Stephan Rheinhardt: Since 2003 Gerlinde and Frank John have been producing great old-school wines in the beautifully renovated, 400-year-old Renaissance building of the Hirschhorner Hof in Königsbach. Biodynamic in the cultivation and traditional in the processing of the grapes as well as in the fermentation of the Rieslings and Pinot Noirs with long maturation in wooden barrels, the name John stands for clear, mineral-based top sparkling wines that combine intensity and complexity with strength and mineral play. In the cross-vaulted cellar, traditionally produced sparkling wines are also made, which are even served in Parisian star restaurants. All of them are still very reasonably priced vintage Rieslings, which differ mainly in terms of the time they matured on the lees: 32, 41 or 50 months. The Prestige cuvée Brut 100 will be launched in a few months and will have matured on the lees for more than eight years, for example the 2015 Riesling Brut Nature. John's sparkling wines do not need sweetness to balance the fine pearly acid; due to the slow fermentation and maturation they are balanced enough and are sparkling food wines par excellence! For the Gala at Schloss Bensberg, Frank John did not miss the opportunity to disgorge 20 Magnums of the 2015 Riesling Brut 41 this week, exclusively for our guests - as Brut Nature, i.e. without dosage and without sulfur. Champagne cannot be purer.

Picture: Frank and Gerlinde John, Weingut John, Pfalz. See: Véritable - a very Special Wine Trade Fair - 2019 in St. Martin, Pfalz, Germany

Kabinett des Jahres/ Kabinett of the Year
2018 Mittelrhein Riesling Bacharacher Wolfshöhle Kabinett trocken, Weingut Dr. Kauer in Bacharach

Stephan Rheinhardt: Both the Kabinett wine category and the Mittelrhein wine region, with its slate slopes between Bingen, Bacharach and Bonn, are cultural assets worth protecting. In many places, however, the winemakers abolish the dry or the classic "feinherb" Kabinett without need. Predicates are only supposed to classify sweet wines, while Qualitätsweine ohne Prädikat are classified according to origin today. Randolf Kauer's subtle, clear, delicate and stimulatingly salty Kabinett from the Wolfshöhle in Bacharach represents both its steep, stony origin and the type of Kabinett, which stands for light, refined and animating wines, especially in the dry category. They may be unpretentious, quiet and unspectacular, but: No spot on earth can produce such light and deep Rieslings as the steep slopes on the Rhine and Moselle. Kauer's ecologically produced Kabinett from the Wolfshöhle has remained balanced, fine and cool even in a hot year like 2018. It would be fatal to give up this wine category, which is already threatened by climate change, prematurely and voluntarily!

„Schatzi“ des Jahres/ „Schatzi“ of the Year
2007 Mosel Riesling Trarbacher Hühnerberg Auslese, Weingut Martin Müllen, Traben-Trarbach

Stephan Rheinhardt: Great Rieslings need time: dry a few years, the sweet predicates may taste good when young - but they only become fascinatingly complex after many years or even decades of aging. Martin Müllen ferments and ages his wines grown between Kröv and Trarbach on steep slopes as his grandfather did: with the mechanical basket press, which presses the grapes for 20 hours and keeps all the ingredients of the berry skins in the must and thus also the wine. He sells his wine young, but in accordance with the view that great Rieslings need time, he puts those that he doesn't sell in the first year in one of his caves and only brings them back on sale when he thinks the wine is ready for consumption. This year among those wines: the 2007 Riesling Auslese from the Hühnerberg, a top vineyard rising steeply over seven terraces in a side valley of the Mosel, which was classified as early as the 19th century and which produces world-class Rieslings like this Auslese - precise, highly elegant and juicy, with stimulating vitality and salinity as well as red and dark berries in the aftertaste. A fine sweet wine, which was made from very ripe, but perfectly healthy grapes and fermented and aged in the Fuder and which today goes very well with desserts and cheeses, but can also set-off a meditation.

Aufsteiger/ Komet des Jahres/ Rising Star of the Year
Christoph Wolber & Alexander Götze, Weingut Wasenhaus, Staufen, Baden

Stephan Reinhardt: They are both career changers and have learned from the elite of the Côte d’Or in Burgundy, such as Leflaive, Comte des Armand, Bernhard van Berg and Pierre Morey. Christoph Wolber from Staufen and Alexander Götze from Brandenburg, who still heads the Domaine de Montille in Volnay as chef de culture, got to know each other in a shared apartment in Meursault, got along well with each other and decided to apply what they had learned at home in Germany. Brandenburg was eliminated as Burgundy of the East, but around Staufen in the beautiful Markgräflerland, with its limestone soil, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay dominate here. And of course Gutedel. The estate was founded in 2015 and called "Wasenhaus". The labels of the wines produced since 2016 are stylish and clear, like the wines themselves: made simple, like great Burgundies, with a lot of artisanal technology, but no oenological tricks: hand picking, fermentation with natural yeasts, maturation over two winters in the wood, the last few months for precision in stainless steel; filling without pumping, fining and filtration and with only a moderate amount of sulfur. The result: The natural wines (classified as Badischer Landwein) are pure, fresh and exciting, yet subtle and complex - and always sold out, especially abroad and in star restaurants. Tip: Immediately look for the not yet sold wines of vintage 2017!