Thursday, April 10, 2025

Lehigh Valley Chapter, Pennsylvania (American Wine Society) - Monthly Newsletter: Report on "A Journey Through Germany", led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, with Ranking of the 12 Wines poured (March 2025)

A Journey Through Germany - Tasting at the Lehigh Valley and Northampton Chapters of the American Wine Society in Allentown, Pennsylvania, led by Annette Schiller Ombiasy Public Relations and Wine Tours and organized by Matt Green and Ann Vlot took place on March 16, 2025, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

See: A Journey Through Germany - Tasting 13 Wines (Sparkling, Dry White and Red) at the Lehigh and Northampton Chapters of the American Wine Society in Allentown, Pennsylvania, led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours

Lehigh Valley Chapter (AWS) Newsletter

The Lehigh Valley Chapter now published in its monthly newsletter a short report with regard to the event, including a ranking of the presented wines.

As many of you know, the March tasting was a joint Lehigh Valley – Northampton endeavor. It was nice to see the two chapters get together to enjoy some great German wines. What a nice idea Ann and Matt to bring the two chapters together and what an awesome job you did in pulling it off! Please see the full summary of the tasting later in the newsletter.

On Sunday March 16, approximately 65 members of the Lehigh Valley and Northampton Chapters, plus two members of the Berks Chapter, attended a tasting featuring the wines of Germany. The tasting was organized by Ann Vlot and Matt Green and facilitated by Annette Schiller, a German wine expert.

Including the ice breaker, the tasting included 13 wines from 11 different wine regions across Germany. As would be expected, Riesling was the primary varietal featured, but also included in the tasting were two Weissburgunders (Pinot Blanc) and three Spatburgunders (Pinot Noir).

The table below gives a list of the wines, their region, price, average score, standard deviation of the scores and a final ranking of the top 5 wines.

Ranking

Not surprisingly, Riesling, Germany’s signature grape, took the top 5 places in the scoring. Generally, when our chapters have tastings that include both white and red wines, the red wines score higher. In this case, I believe the Pinot Noirs were not typical of what we expected due to the cooler German climate.

I was unaware that they made sparkling wine in Germany, but in fact, Germans drink more sparkling wine per capita than anyone else in the world!

Annette did a great job with her presentation and kept the attention of everyone throughout. With 65 people in the room, I was prepared to be using the bell quite often to quiet people down, but did not have to use it once! It was also really nice to see the pictures of Ann and Matt, along with Annette at several of the wineries featured in the tasting.

Thank you, Ann and Matt for all the time and effort you put into this tasting. I don’t believe too many of us have the courage or energy to tackle preparing bratwurst and potato salad for 65 people! You guys, along with Annette, did an awesome job and we all very much appreciate it!

Price - average points - standard deviation

2023 Riesling, Brauneberger Juffer, GC, Max Ferdinand Richter Mosel $39 17.8 0.72

2021 Riesling, Hohen Sulzen, 1er Cru, Battenfeld-Spanier Rheinhessen $35 17.3 1.20

2021 Riesling, Freyburger Edelacker, Grand Cru Saale-Unstrut $50 17.2 1.08

2023Riesling, Brauneberger Juffer, Kabinett, Max Ferdinand Richter Mosel $29 17.0 1.37

2020 Rurale, Brut Natur, Pet-Nat, Melsheimer Mosel $27 15.2 1.74

2018 Riesling, Pur Mineral, Rudolf Furst Franken $25 16.9 1.20

2019 Spatburgunder, Salwey Baden $45 16.7 1.34

2020 Riesling, Wachenheimer Grumpel, Burken-Wolf Pfalz $45 16.5 1.28

2022 Weissburgunder, Estate, Donnhoff Nahe $20 16.1 1.65

2022 Spatburgunder, Dautel Wurttemberg $25 16.2 1.48

2022 Weissburgunder, Heilig Kreuz, 1st Cru, Schloss Proschwitz Sachsen $40 16.1 1.30

2022 Riesling, Oestrich, Quarzit, Peter-Jakob Kuhn Rheingau $28 15.7 1.03

2021 Spatburgunder, Bertram-Baltes Ahr $36 14.7 0.83

Schiller-wine: A Journey Through Germany - Tasting 13 Wines (Sparkling, Dry White and Red) at the Lehigh and Northampton Chapters of the American Wine Society in Allentown, Pennsylvania, led by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours