Jancis Robinson, Financial Times, March 25, 2023: "German Wine has Completely Transformed itself in Recent Years, but Fine-wine Buyers seem Stubbornly Unaware of the Fact." One of them is Eric Asimov, the Wine Critic of the New York Times

Picture: Annette Schiller, ombiasy PR and Wine Tours, Jancis Robinson, MW, and Christian G.E. Schiller at the 2014 Digital Wine Communications Conference (DWCC) in Montreux, Switzerland. See: The 2014 Digital Wine Communications Conference (DWCC) in Switzerland  

 

Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times on March 25, 2023

 

In a remarkable article in the Financail Times of March 25, 2023, Jancis Robinson writes: "German wine has completely transformed itself in recent years, but fine-wine buyers seem stubbornly unaware of the fact."  The article is here.

 

Jancis reports about an event in London a few weeks ago with 6 German star winemakers. The 6 winemakers each showed three vintages of one of their top wines, one from the 1990s, one from the 2000s and one from the 2010s. 

 

5 of the 6 wines were dry, only 1 was sweet. 3 of the 6 wines were Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), 2 were Riesling and dry and 1 was Riesling and sweet. The wines were from 6 different regions: Baden (Dr. Heger), Pfalz (Knipser), Rheingau (Breuer), Franken (Fürst), Nahe (Dönnhoff) and Mosel (Zilliken). 

 

"Anne Krebiehl, the only German Master of Wine living the UK, reminded us of how recently the status of German wine had changed within Germany itself. ‘People forget the doldrums of German wine, especially from about 1985 to 1995. If you were cool in Germany then, you didn’t drink German wine. But it has changed this century. It happened with dry Riesling first, then Pinot’, she said, adding about German sparkling wine, ‘and now it’s finally happening with Sekt.’"

Dr Heger, Winklerberg Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs, Baden, 1997, 2008, 2015

Knipser, Kirschgarten Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs, Pfalz, 1991, 2009, 2015

Fürst, Centgrafenberg Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs, Franken, 1997, 2010, 2016

Georg Breuer, Berg Schlossberg Riesling Qualitätswein trocken, Rheingau, 1993, 2002, 2012

Dönnhoff, Hermannshöhle Riesling Grosses Gewächs, Nahe, 1994, 2010, 2016

Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken, Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel, Saar, 1997, 2005, 2010

Picture: Christian Schiller, Annette Schiller and Sommelier Paul Grieco (Terroir) at the 2015 Rieslingfeier in New York City, USA

Eric Asimov in the New York Times on March 22, 2023

Three days earlier, in his weekly columne in the NYT, Eric Asimov writes about the year 2021 and that its climate conditions allowed German winemakers to produce "beautiful, sweet Kabinett Rieslings, a lacy style that has been difficult to achieve for most of the 21st century because of climate change". The article is here.

"A wine vintage takes a break from climate change. After years of higher temperatures, Kabinett Riesling producers have a vintage that seems like a throwback to the time, when growers battled to ripen grapes. Kabinett lovers rejoice".

In his article Eric Asimov reviews 12 fruity-sweet Kabinett wines, mostly from the Mosel, but also from the Nahe, available in the New York market.

In Germany, in Frankfurt for example, it is almost impossible to find a bottle of sweet Kabinett in a wine store, unless you look at the Frankfurt International Airport or at a wine store that caters to the tourists from Asia and the USA. 

In the USA, Eric Asimov found 12 fruity-sweet Rieslings in the wine stores of NYC, and a weekly NYT wine column was devoted to fruity-sweet Rieslings from Germany (Mosel and Nahe).

German Wine Transformation and the USA Market

Jancis Robinson: "German wine has completely transformed itself in recent years, but fine-wine buyers seem stubbornly unaware of the fact."  Obviously, Eric Asimov is one of them.

But Eric Asimov is not alone. It reflects his readership - American wine consumers. 

At the German Wine Society in the USA (of which I am a Vice-President of the Washington DC Chapter and a member of the National Board), members are mainly interested in Riesling and overwhelmingly prefer fruity-sweet over dry Rieslings.  

The German wine portfolio of MacArthur's Beverages in Washington DC - a leading wine store for German wine in the whole country - mirrors this: Heavy on wines from the Mosel region, heavy on Riesling and heavy on wines with residual sweetness.

Pictures: The New German Wine Law of 2021 - Tasting at the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter), presented by Annette Schiller

The New German Wine Law of 2021

On November 26, 2020, the German parliament passed a new wine law, which took effect January 27, 2021. See here: The New German Wine Law of 2021 - Tasting at the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter), presented by Annette Schiller

Importantly, the new German wine law introduces a new hierarchy to determine the quality of wine - the Romanesque model of origin. The emphasis shifts from the sugar level to the wine’s geographic origin. The bottom line is the quality promise: the narrower the geographical indication, the higher the quality. This concept follows the “terroir” principle, well-known from the classification in Burgundy and elsewhere. 

Both Jancis Robinson and Eric Asimov do not refer to the new law. They both seem to be unaware of the new German Wine Law with its fundamental changes.

Picture: Tasting with Stuart Pigott at the Schiller Residence in Frankfurt, Germany. See: Tasting the Best of Virginia Wines in Frankfurt, Germany, with Stuart Pigott: Virginia Governor's Cup Case 2016

 

An Ultra-premium dry white Wine from Germany #2 on James Suckling's List of the Top 100 Wines of the World (2022)

 

Recently, James Suckling released his annual list of the Top 100 Wines of the World. See here.

 

Interestingly, the #2 on this list - covering the whole world - is a white wine from Germany, the 2021 Weingut Künstler, Riesling, Hölle GG. 

 

Even more interestingly, it is not a fruity-sweet Kabinett, Spätlese or Auslese wine, for which the nation has long been famous, but an ultra-premium dry Riesling. 

 

In fact, 10 of Suckling's Top 100 Wines of the World 2022 are white wines from Germany and all, except for one wine, are ultra-premium dry wines. Even the only wine from the Mosel on the list is not a fruity-sweet or noble-sweet wine, but an ultra-premium wine.

This "...says so much about the radical transformation German wine has undergone during recent years and about what makes high-end offerings from the country such a great choice today" writes Senior Editor Stuart Pigott. 

 

And he goes on: "At first these new substantial dry wines looked pretty radical, but as the 1990s progressed the trend away from light-bodied wines with obvious unfermented grape sweetness toward serious dry wines took hold in Germany. Together with the achievements of winemakers like Kunstler, that laid the foundations for the German wines of the 21^st century.

This ... showcases the fruits of this transformation and celebrates the way most high-end German white wines remain excellent value for money. The contrast to the often astronomical prices for the white wines of Burgundy could hardly be more extreme. In Germany, the Holle GG 2021 typically costs just under 40 euros, but there are a bunch of places around Planet Wine where it won’t cost you much more than that. Yet it is a world-class dry white!"

Evidently, James Suckling is fully aware of the fact that "German wine has completely transformed itself in recent years". No wonder, his Senior Editor, the British wine critic Stuart Pigott, is based in Germany (and recently became German citizen).  

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