Home > Vintages and Regions > Other Wines > Great German Riesling

Great German Riesling

In some quarters, German wine has a strong following. Hardcore devotees of German wine follow vintage news from the Mosel and the Rhine just as closely as others do with regard to Bordeaux, the Rhône and the Douro. But sadly for the German winemakers, this strong following has not translated into a broader base of wine drinkers more appreciative of fine German wines. The reasons for this are numerous, but include:

The novel ways in which German wines have been marketed in the UK know few boundaries, and there have been numerous different attempts to promote the purchase and consumption of German wine. Sadly this has included the 'Antipodeisation' of many bottles; out go the difficult, overly busy labels with long, complicated foreign words written in ancient script, and in comes the 'Fire Mountain' and 'Devil's Rock' Rieslings, looking distinctly un-German in their Bordeaux or Burgundy style bottles. This also distances the bottles from the generic Niersteiner and Piesporter, and the too-well-known brands, which have provided so many bad experiences in the past, hence clearing another hurdle in the marketing of the wine.

I have always been of the opinion that trying to improve market share of one country's wines, by imitating those of another, would be a blind-ending alley on the road to success. There are only so many Oz-like brands you can squeeze onto a supermarket shelf. And it seems as though the German winemakers would agree. In recent years we are seeing less interest in hiding the bottles behind changeling labels, and more interest in marketing the wines as distinctly German, but in keeping with the fashion of our times, the wines are dry - or trocken, as the label would inform us.

The terms trocken (dry) and halbtrocken (literally half-dry - perhaps just off-dry is a better translation) are rather precise terms used to describe the quantity of sugar left in the finished wine. A trocken wine has less than 9 g/l of residual sugar, the cut-off for halbtrocken being 18 g/l. The prädikat system - describing the must weight prior to fermentation - is still applied, so wines that are dry may typically be labelled Spätlese Trocken, or Auslese Trocken, for instance. Because the wine is fermented to dryness, they have more alcohol than is typical for German wines.

My knowledge of trocken wines is not strong. One German producer that excels at the style is Bürklin Wolf, and I have previously tasted a number of examples of the trocken style from this producer. But more and more trocken wines seem to be appearing, and more German producers are altering vineyard management and winery methods towards the production of these wines. This small tasting was a good opportunity to try a couple more examples of the style.

First up was a basic trocken from Weingut Wittman, a 17 ha Rheinhessen estate currently run by Günter Wittman. This was a decent bottle, very fresh, but without great depth and character. Of more interest were the next two bottles, both Spätlese, from JL Wolf and JJ Prüm. The former is a Pfalz estate that, since 1996, has been leased to one of the Mosel's top winemakers, Ernst Loosen, with the sole intention of producing dry wines to compliment Loosen's own more traditional range from the Mosel. The final wine is an excellent example of just such a traditional Spätlese from another great Mosel winemaker, Dr Manfred Prüm. This was an instructive comparison, and my notes should make it clear which wine I preferred, although obviously no broad conclusions can be drawn from such a limited tasting. A greater spread of wines need to be tasted, and that is the aim of this series; as the weeks progress I'll be looking at the wines from a number of respected producers, in each case both traditional and trocken, and hopefully drawing some conclusions about these two disparate styles as a result. (23/6/05)

Great German Riesling - Tasting Notes

Tasted in May 2005. Click to locate stockists.

Wittmann Westhofener Riesling 'S' Trocken (Rheinhessen) 2004: Fine, slatey nose. Quite aromatic. Medium body, dry. A little weighty, but lacking some concentration perhaps. But elegant, with an ice-cool, refreshing presence on the palate. Great finish though. Will improve. 15+/20

JL Wolf Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Spätlese Trocken (Pfalz) 2004: Floral, lime blossom, mineral nose. Lovely weight on the palate, mouth-filling, with good fruit and a firm structure. Rich yet dry, with a carbon dioxide spritz assisting with the freshness. This is good, and also has potential. 16+/20

Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese (Mosel) 2003: An explosive nose; elegant chalk and mineral aromas. Beautifully textured palate, with a superb flower, dew-laden, mineral and slate panoply of flavour. Weighty and rich, but with superb precision. Fine acidity. Excellent, with potential for 10-15 years of development in the cellar. 18+/20

Home - Site index - Site updated October 07, 2008 - © The Winedoctor 2000 - 2008 - Wine Scores - RSS