Gault Millau Wine Germany 2010

In Germany, there are three influential wine guides, the Eichelmann, the Gault Millau and the Feinschmecker.

Gault Millau published its new guide, Gault Millau 2010, in November 2009. It reviews and describes almost 300 wineries and more than 2000 wines. Its rating symbol is a grape and Germany’s best winemakers are awarded one to five grapes, a bit like the forks in the Gault Millau food guide.

Ever since 1994, the Gault Millau guide Germany has honored outstanding personalities of the German wine world – in addition to special wines. This year, these are:

Wine maker of the year: Tim Fröhlich from Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich. The "Winemaker of the Year" this time comes from the Nahe region, a small region between the Rheingau and the Mosel regions, with the Nahe river flowing through it. Tim Frohlich took over Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich in 1995. He has impressed Gault and Millau with his dry, sweet and noble sweet white wines.

Shooting star of the year: Gleichenstein Estate from Baden. The Estate of Baron Gleichenstein has founded in 1634 already. But only in recent years the estate has taken off under the young Baron Johannes von Gleichenstein. "Increasingly, he uses the great potential of the prime locations in Oberrotweil for excellent Burgundy,” editor Joel Payne praised his wines. With his Pinot Noir of 2007 Gleichenstein also moved into the top range of German red wines and with his Pinot Gris from the Oberrotweil Henkenberg into the top range of white wines.

Discovery of the Year: Eva Vollmer from Rheinhessen. No other region has received as many grapes for the first time as Rheinhessen. Among the newcomers is also Eva Vollmer from Mainz, the "discovery of the Year" in this year's Gault Millau. 2007 is her first vintage. After an internship in California and wine studies at Geisenheim, the 27 years old wine maker founded her winery in 2007; she has taken over the vinyards of her father, who used to grow grapes only and sell them.

Best wine collection of the year: Bürklin Wolf from the Pfalz region. Most top-dry Rieslings in 2008 come from the Pfalz region, according to Gault Millau. Leading that extraordinary quality movement is the winery Bürklin Wolf in Wachenheim, which has been honored for its outstanding wine portfolio.

Best Sparkling Wine of the Year: 2004 Cuvee Brut Schlossgut Diel (Nahe). Schlossgut Diel is from the same region as Tim Froehlich, the wine maker of the year. In the US, Armin Diehl is known for producing the evanescent Poet’s Leap in Washington State’s Columbia Valley.

Best Red Wine of the Year: 2007 Pinot Noir Friedrich Becker (Pfalz). 97 points. Friedrich Becker and his family own around 14.5 ha of vineyards in the Southern part of the Pfalz region. He was the first of his family to distant himself from delivering the grapes to the local co-operative and decide to make his own wine. Right from the start he turned out as one of the best producers in the Pfalz and one of the best Pinot Noir producers in Germany. 60% of his production is Pinot Noir which is gown primarily on stony, chalky soil on the Alsatian side of the border and his wines are made "by instinct". The same instincts seem to have been transferred to his son Friedrich Jun, who has taken over more and more responsibilities with his sister Helena.

Best Dry Pinot Blanc of the Year: 2008 In the Sunshine Ökonomierat Rebholz (Pfalz). This wine maker was Gault Millau’s winemaker of the year 2002. "For Hansjörg Rebholz, the respect for nature is the source of all the things that characterize the wines." Wine writer Stuart Pigott says.

Best Dry Riesling of the Year: 2008 Forster Kirchenstück Bürklin,Wolf (Pfalz). 96 points. A Grosses Gewaechs from the winemaker with the best collection of wine of the year.