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Riesling Uber Alles! ©
Can New Designations Revitalize German Wines?
© Michael Vaughan 2001
Wine Access June/July 2001 Issue
Michael Vaughan is the wine & spirits columnist for the National Post and publisher of Vintage Assessments.

At one time the mere mention of the word Riesling and Germany were synonymous. Fact is, you couldn’t dine out without finding a little Blue Nun on the wine list. Unfortunately, wine drinking trends haven’t been kind to Germany - the wines have taken a pounding that brings World War II to mind. While the huge migration to reds was important, the key factor was the sheer multitude of German place names and styles that stymied consumers. Added to this is the strong association with sweetness – anything with residual sugar was unfashionable.

Fortunately, things are changing rapidly. First, the American market, which is a trend bellwether, saw German wine imports rise by 23 percent last year - the greatest increase with the exception of Australia (up 38 percent). While the strong dollar has influenced this gain, it’s becoming increasingly evident that German Riesling is once again becoming fashionable, albeit in a drier style. This is confirmed by the most recent 20001 stats showing imports are up 26.2 percent in the US and 17.6 percent in Canada.

Perhaps the best example of these newer styled wines is Lingenfelder 1999 “Bird Label” Riesling a well-priced QbA Halbtrocken ("half dry") from the Pfalz. The irrepressible owner Rainer-Karl Lingenfelder website markets his wares as the “Dawning of the Age of PostChardonnism.” He turned to Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon's label designer for packaging of this lively, just-off dry, new age Riesling. And while the Bird been a smash success, the fact that he (like so many other small wineries) only has a limited quantity for sale means that the real German revival rests on the other producers matching his success.

A New Classification for Dry Wines

Indeed, that is the challenge, because at one time, these drier styles were the bane of tastings. My induction at the German Wine Academy in 1997, for instance, saw a cavalcade of thin, tart, fruitless Rieslings. Fortunately, today’s wines have changed significantly. Indeed, the push to simplify matters for the consumer has resulted in two totally new classifications – “Classic” and “Selection” - being introduced for the year 2000. Labels have been simplified and need only indicate the vintage, grape variety (only one grape is allowed), region (in the case of Classic) and vineyard (only in the case of Selection) along with the producer’s name.

This is basically designed to eliminate the huge number of vineyard-designated Trocken and Halbtrocken wines that are in the market – indeed, these terms are not permitted when the new terms are used. One would like to think that the “Classic” designation is a replacement for the latter. Indeed, the wine must have a minimum alcohol of 12% (11.5% for the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) and be “harmoniously dry.” And therein lies a difficulty, because while there is a maximum residual sugar permissible of 1.5%, there is no minimum meaning that the consumer will not know what style is being purchased. Indeed, a Halbtrocken wine may actually have higher sugar levels – up to 18 grams. According to statistics about 22% of all German wines fit into this category, while almost half is of the traditional style with sugar levels of 18 to 45 grams per litre (2 to 5 percent residual sweetness).

By contrast, the “Selection” wines come from riper grapes requiring a higher minimum level of natural potential alcohol 12.2% at harvest and a lower threshold of sweetness .9% which is the maximum for a “Trocken” (or up to 1.2% for Riesling). In addition, the vines have a maximum yield of 60 hl/ha and must be hand harvested. Unlike the Classic designation, Selection wines will be subject to a sensory examination. Trocken wines have been one of the fastest growing categories accounting for 28% of total production.

While I would like to think that this would be a good solution for German wines (to date 120 producers have signed up), I certainly have my reservations. First, to many consumers the word “classic” seems to carry with it a sense of superiority over “selection.” Worse yet, some might think that “classic” is the older, sweeter, more traditional style of German wine. Unfortunately, the recently organized tasting of Classics tasting found many of the newly launched wines to be decidedly tart, dry and thin. The key problem here is that the 2000 vintage was far from stellar. It was fraught with difficulties and lots of rainfall making me skeptical that this introductory release of Classics will prove popular in the North American market.

While it appears the Germans themselves have gone wild about these extremely dry wines, I don’t think this style is necessarily appropriate for the North American market where some residual sugar is often required to balance the high acid levels found in many wines. Indeed, these new styled “drier” Rieslings are coming out of the woodwork from riper grapes (meaning better mouthfeel and more fruit forward flavours) from vineyards all over the world. It seems that only the quality-driven German houses producing better wines will be able to withstand the competition in the export market. And these are precisely the firms that really don’t need to rely on simplistic “Classic – Selection” designation to sell their wines. In fact, many respectable producers like Lingenfelder aren’t even bothering putting the Trocken and Halbtrocken on the label. This group isn’t about to join the band, which consists of many producers who have yet to score internationally.

Moreover, knowledgeable buyers will still want to have their delicious Spatlese and Auslese wines with all their traditional sweetness. At the lower end of the spectrum, the economical, sweeter, low –alcohol, high volume wines will also maintain their much reduced market share – “live-frog’s-milk” will not disappear. The big growth will indeed be in the drier area, but not in necessarily (at least not yet) in the new “Classic – Selection” class but in the higher quality, more expensive, winery-driven range. Producers like Zenzen, Johann Geil, Marbé-Sans, Vollmer, Selbach, Georg Bruer, Franz Künstler, etc. will be the key players because they can truly compete internationally.

The 2000 Vintage

As for the problems relating to the challenging 2000 vintage, let me quote Louis Konstantin Guntrum’s sardonic notes: Winter too mild. Spring late and much too hot. Summer fine till July's 150 litres of rain per square metre - 3 times the average - going into rains again at most inappropriate times - in the ripening month of September and even at harvesting time October - seems new trend since last five years - insane - basic changes? Dry an autumn could have made many Trockenbeerenauslese and healthy Eisweine - drowned in rain and rot. 

I had the privilege of doing a vineyard tasting with the master himself while climbing the steep Niersteiner Hölle vineyard overlooking his winery beside the Rhine River. There were four tasting stations, which were terrific stops but, quite frankly, somewhat challenging for someone who is used to the tranquility of the lab. Guntrum’s biggest success has been with their” Royal Blue Bottle” Riesling which has 8.5% alcohol and 37.4 grams of residual sugar. They also have a golden yellow bottled Silvaner Spatlese and a red bottled Schreube Kabinett.  What was particularly interesting was the presentation of the premium “Guntrum Classic” wines. Of course, these “erstes gewächs” or “single vineyard” wines that have nothing to do with new appellation which perhaps typifies the German dilemma of so many producers all moving in different directions.

On a positive note, I want to be absolutely clear that not all the Rieslings from the 2000 vintage are disasters. Indeed, a vintage chart or even a simple synopsis as presented above is only the grossest of generalizations. Certainly for 2000, the specific vineyard site and cluster reduction by a green harvest are key factors. Regions with steeper slopes and lower yielding vines had the best chance of making decent wine. Recent visits to several, quality-minded estates bore this out. At Scholss Johannisberger, for instance, their 2000 Grülack Spätlese Trocken Fassprobe Riesling with its fine, fresh, gently honeyed, grapefruit flavours was a testimonial to excellent steep slope drainage in a very wet year.

As for other vintages currently on the market - the 1999 a good, albeit very prolific vintage produced many decent wines which are showing nicely. From the Rheingau is Franz Künstler1999 Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Auslese Trocken, which is quite stunning with its bright, lively and yet elegant, fresh, pear purée flavours. Unlike some producers, all the fruit flavours are totally natural - no sweet reserve is used to push up fruit. Gunter Künstler and Cellar master Frank Fischer have done an excellent job in producing 3,000 bottles of this Auslese. In fact, the ’99 Beerenauslese (untasted) was the only German wine to appear in Decanter’s recent list of fifty Rising Stars of Fine Wine.

One of the best value wines tasted on a recent trip was Heinrich Vollmer’s 1999 Grauer Burgunder Ellerstadter Kirchenstüch Kabinett Trocken. I was so excited by its delicious tangerine-pear purée flavours that I actually brought a bottle back with me and sampled it in the LCBO lab with Vintages/Classics buyers. Unfortunately nothing came of this exercise, nor has the agent been successful with an attempt to get it listed! Apparently it was too late for this year!

Unfortunately, the finer older vintages are disappearing quickly. Vollmer’s well-structured, raspberry-black cherry flavoured, barrel aged 1998 Spätburgunder Ellerstadter Kirchenstüch QbA Trocken is definitely worth a detour (it recently won a Silver Medal) if you can find it. Of course, there are many gems from 1997, which although perhaps more challenging, produced wines of great concentration due to abnormally low yields.

As German wines are becoming increasingly food-friendly, the current growth of premium drier German wines should continue. What is significant is that crisp, bright wines like Dr. von Bassermann-Jordan 1999 Riesling Trocken from the Pfalz is now being featured in many upscale New York City restaurants by the glass. It’s demonstrative of where things are going in North America.