Events

Riesling & Co. 2005
June 2005

At the beginning of June German winemakers traditionally present their latest vintages in Moscow.

In 2005 the event known as Riesling & Co. gathered about 20 producers from the leading areas of Germany. By tradition, they were accompanied by the German Wine Queen. This time Armin Goering, Director of Deutsches Weininstitut visited Moscow to held a press-conference about the current state of German wine industry.

Before discussing the most exciting finds of the tasting, I’d like to mention a few facts regarding the latest trends in the German winemaking.

Total plantings show a stable figure of just over 100,000 hectares (equaling to the area of all Bordeaux vineyards!) At the same time the number of winegrowers is actually decreasing due to consolidation of estates. Annual wine production is at average 10 million hectoliters. Exports account for 25%. It is interesting to note that Germans drink about 16-17 mln hl per year. It means that the actual volumes left in the country do not cover even half of domestic demand.

Although Germany remains to be a white wines producer, there is a strong trend in increasing the vineyards for red varieties. Their plantings rose from 11.4% to 36% since 1980. It confirms changing local and world tastes towards red wines. The most important are Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Dornfelder. The others like Regent, Lemberger and Schwartzriesling have regional weight only.

Riesling keeps its position as king among white varieties. Plantings of the second most popular grape Muller-Thurgau are briskly declining. Instead, Pinot grapes — Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder (Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc) are being planted. Another important trend is focus on dry wines production. At present the share of dry and off-dry wines accounts for 56% (36% and 20% correspondingly).

Five years ago winemakers reviewed their marketing policy for quality wines and now offer a new concept — Classic and Selection. Classic wines are positioned as a middle quality segment in the pyramid of dry wines typical for the region. Selection is a higher level of quality. One can understand the desire to simplify, but the Germans will have to educate end consumers for them to understand the novelty. The Institute of German wines realizes the necessity of education and promises to run an impactful advertising campaign to target local and export markets.

And the last curiosity. For the coming World football championship 2006 The Institute of German wines together with FIFA developed symbolic wine labels. Undoubtedly, such a cunning move will spark interest to German wines. Hopefully, it will make them more popular not only among football fans, but among wider circle of wine consumers.

This year Riesling & Co. event featured a number of very good producers. The majority are targeting the Russian market which should simplify the search of reputable German partners for our importers.

Selbach-Oster, a brilliant producer from Mosel-Saar-Ruwer for the second time presented their range in Moscow. This time they brought not only estate-grown Rieslings, but a couple of negociant wines that give an excellent idea about quality German white wines for an average consumer. The estate- grown Rieslings have long been acknowledged by all leading critics, including Parker, as one of the best in Germany.

The other two producers which are definitely worth a mention are Kunstler from Rheingau and Kuhling-Gillot from Rhienhessen. Kunstler’s vineyards lie around famous Hockheim. All Rieslings presented at the tasting, were impressive, including dry Riesling Auslese 2003 from Holle vineyard. It featured very powerful, tight structure and pronounced minerality. Kuhling-Gillot is another family-run estate producing elegant, noble wines in Bodenheim. It owns grosses gewachs (equivalent of Bordeaux grand cru) vineyards. Along with Riesling, the estate produces highly individual white wines from Chardonnay and reds from Spatburgunder. They also make an interesting red cuvee Giro X with Spatburgunder, Regent, Syrah, Dunkenfelder and Portugieser.

A prominent wine collection was brought by Wineconsale that acts as an agent for several highly esteemed German producers — Schloss Vollrads (Rheingau), Jakob Duijn (Baden), K.F. Groebe (Rheinhessen) and others. Along with young wines Wineconsale presented some old vintages which confirmed the unparalleled reputation of Riesling to evolve over a long period. Among the wines were fresh, complex, dry Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett 1997, Groebe Westhofener Aulerde Riesling Spatlese 1994 and Lamm-Jung Erbacher Honigberg Riesling Spatlese 1990.

The event featured wines of a well-known Rheinhessen producer Weingut Rappenhof, whose wines can be found in the portfolio of Whitehall importer. I would also like to mention Robert Weil (Rheingau), Reinhold Haart (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) and Hiestand (Rhienhessen) — their wines were of excellent quality and had the imprint of their terroirs.