Who actively chooses a German wine?
Probably not you, if you are the manager of a hospitality business, possibly a Food and Beverage manager or Director. Bearing in mind the general pummelling of German wine over the last 20 years and the association with down market supermarket ranges, it is not very surprising. However give me a few minutes of your time because good quality German wine has every reason to be included on your list.
It tastes good and aligns well with current consumer tastes and expectations, has a wide variety of stories to tell and represents good value for money. If you are thinking, ‘how many different sorts of Liebfraumilch and Hock can you get’, think again!
In the last two weeks I have tasted up to 100 excellent quality German wines not distributed in the UK currently from the various different regions courtesy of promotion body Wines of Germany. These were from 50 different growers, winemakers, estates and 10 different grape varieties from the 9 different winemaking regions of Germany. The styles ranged from sweet, through delicate, medium style to the crisply dry.
The common perception is that German wines are made from Riesling and are sweet, and whilst a large part of German vineyard is planted with Riesling, there are a number of other notable grape varieties. Silvaner, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris or Grigio) , Huxelrebe and yes Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc and Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) are all planted. Further there is a very broad choice of wine styles, with many wines produced trocken (dry), halbtrocken (half-dry) or feinherb (off-dry), matching the current consumer tastes.
The trick to selecting German wines is to not allow the language and jargon to get in the way of the two most important things – taste and story. Today’s consumer is looking for both things as they spend a little more on wine and buy less i.e. their purchase is that much more special and important to them. It is up to us to collectively come up to the mark.
Nahe Wine region vineyardsGerman wines have both things in abundance.
There is a vibrant domestic winemaking and drinking scene in Germany, which is by and large based on the tourist industry. That is, consumers from cities like Dusseldorf, Mainz, Stuttgart and further afield Bremen, Hanover, Berlin travel out to more rural destinations of the Rhine, Baden, Mosel, Franken and Saale Unstrut. In fact there are 16 wine regions in Germany, mostly based in the west of the country, but also small ones towards the east and on the Czech border, as well as on the Swiss border. So it is no different to the Californian, Australian or South African scene each of which makes a feature of their own tourist wine routes and are visited by many local and international tourists each year.
Within each region there are many individual growers, producers and winemakers plying their wares all with personalities and different features.
Depending on what matters for your customers then there is something here for you – modern, traditional, hard fought stories, family estates handed down for many generations and so on. But what you will find are people that care about what they are making and selling.
That is not to mention some of the regions’ natural beauty. The Mosel is dramatic with its vine planted steep slate hillsides, then there is the more gentle Rheingau and Pfalz. Baden is a very historic region also with beautiful scenery, not to mention the Saale Unstrut, little known tourist region over the east side. So if you want imagery and great places to visit then Germany is an excellent place with as convivial hospitality as you can find in most European countries.
When it comes to taste again there is a wide variety of tastes to choose from. The German labelling system is, well, organised if not formulaic as you might expect from the land of Vorsprung durch Technik. It also makes it relatively easy to understand, if you want to get into it.
Explaining it is for a different time, but if we focus on what customers are drinking, then we can easily find some parallels in the German wine scene.
For example the ubiquitous Pinot Grigio, which is a largely neutral style of wine, easy to drink and not the driest wine. Look for a Feinherb – perhaps made with Weissburgunder (Pinot Grigio itself) or Pinot Blanc – both delicately flavoured not especially high in acidity. Silvaner and Gewurztraminer are more aromatic varieties, low in acid with rich textures.
Ripe Riesling grapes in the vineyardRiesling is the king of German wines and has a balance of delicious apple, raisin fruit with strong balancing acidity, that allows for excellent ageing potential, not that many of us do this any longer.
Further, don’t ignore the red wines either. Pinot Noir is now the red wine by the glass of choice over the bars in London. Germany produces some excellent Pinot Noirs, light to medium bodied not high in alcohol and lighter cherry, raspberry fruit tones. They can be excellent accompaniments for tapas and bar snacks. They may be called Spatburgunder, literally ‘late Burgundy’ but this is a feature which, allows stories to be told and greater consumer engagement.
The wines often have another benefit, which is that they are lower in alcohol. It is not uncommon to find whites at 9% ranging up to 12%, but seldom 13% and 14%. This is a subtlety in the market of which there is a long term trend as consumers look to wind down their alcohol intake from the excesses of 10 or so years ago.
Choosing German wine is not a wine list faux pas, but a strong choice that leads to engagement, experimentation and enjoyment that can light up a list, inspire and enthuse staff and customers. So when looking at your wine list consider German wine – there is lots to say! Vorsprung durch Deutschweine – Advancement through German Wine!
Alistair Morrell
Hospitality & Catering News, Wine Content Executive