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Gault Millau new edition
November 2008

The sixteenth annual edition of the famous German wine guide Gault Millau has been published.

This year authors Joel Payne and Armin Diel tasted over 10,000 wines from 800 estates, the best of which are presented in the guide. Most wines come from 2007 vintage. “The 2007 was a very good vintage, especially for dry white wines... Not only are the Rieslings first class, but Pinot Noir has improved markedly”, writes Joel Payne.

Fritz Becker from the Pfalz and Bernhard Huber from Baden became a pair of best red wine producers this year. As for the whites, the finest dry Riesling of the vintage was the 2007 Westhofener Brunnenhäuschen Riesling Trocken Grosses Gewächs from Klaus-Peter Keller in the Rheinhessen. The prize for the best off-dry Riesling went to the 2007 Monzinger Hallenberg “R” from Emrich-Schoenleber on the Nahe, and the finest Riesling spätlese was the Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck from Joseph Leitz in the Rheingau. Wines from Schloss Johannisberg were marked as “Collection of the Year” — according to the authors the estate is enjoying a renaissance. Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Silvaner are noted among other varieties.

Only 11 producers received the highest honour of five bunches of grapes this year. They are Fritz Haag, Reinhold Haart, Ernie Loosen, Joh. Jos. Prüm in Mosel; Egon Muller in Saar; Helmut Dönnhoff and Emrich-Schoenleber in Nahe; Robert Weil in Rheingau; Klaus Keller in Rheinhessen; Hansjorg Rebholz in Pfalz and Bernhard Huber in Baden. Another 40 estates are rated with four bunches of grapes.