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Germany has always been an enigma. At the turn-of-the-century, its wines were some of the most expensive in the world, selling for far more than the great châteaux of Bordeaux. Times changed in the 1980s, and many of the generic German wines fell out of favor. Unfortunately, the grand estates got painted with the same brush and imports of those great wines fell off sharply. Happy to say, this situation has reversed itself and the great German wines, particularly the Rieslings of the Rhine and the Moselle valleys, are re-establishing their place in the pantheon of the world's great wines.
Being the most northerly district able to produce wine grapes, Germany is at a bit of a disadvantage. But the Germans have learned how to cope with nature's adversity. Grapes are grown only on favorable sited, usually steep river valleys, which pick up every last ray of autumn's sinking sun. The tempering effects of the valleys also allow them to grow late into the harvest season, giving the grapes an opportunity to pick up the ripeness they need for higher quality wines.
Today, many growers no longer dump the fruits of their labor into large cooperatives for generic blending, but rather work to craft individual wine with distinctive character. And nowhere is there such a range of character … from bone dry to delightfully fruity … to the most luscious natural dessert wines in the world. And all balanced perfectly with the lively acidity that is the hallmark of great German wine.
Whenever we have the opportunity to allow clients to sample our wines, the German products always stand out as crowd favorites. Riesling is a wonderful grape, adored by wine trade professionals everywhere, but distrusted by the public on account of all the cheap imitations. However, pure unadulterated Riesling is exquisite and quite the most suitable wine for the more delicate forms of modern cuisine. But the Germans have blown their chance by saturating the market with so much cheap, fake, sugar-water Liebfraumilch/Niersteiner/Piesporter that many people now refuse to try anything German.
Things called Laski Riesling or similar, that are not Riesling at all, don't help either. But we'll keep on bringing in good, genuine German wine and will continue to reverse the trend.
Click here to view our German wine selection.
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