Grape Varieties

• Riesling

  "To me, the Riesling grape makes the greatest white wines in the world." (Jancis Robinson)

  Germany's greatest grape is the worlds most underrated variety of today. It has it's own typical aroma and "nerve", and yet also the ability to reflect the soil characteristics of its vineyard more than any other variety. Flowery and fruity aromas (peach, pear, apricot, apple, currants, mango ...) as well as herbal, spicy, and earthy or mineral notes (often slate) are common. Even petrol and other strange smells can develop. With its low alcohol levels and high acidity, it is difficult to make harmonious, fully dry wines from it. Still, the best dry Rieslings from Germany, Alsace, and the Wachau in Austria, are great, intense, racy wines, which can compete with the best dry whites of any other variety. Lighter Kabinett wines with a hint of residual sugar, and sweeter Spätlesen, are more widely associated with German Riesling, and they are unrivalled in their delicate balance and finesse. When attacked by botrytis, Riesling can produce the most stunning dessert wines, whose enormous sweetness is balanced by extreme acidity levels. These wines need to age, in order to develop their full complexity and harmony, and they do so for decades (and cost fortunes). Yet even humble Kabinetts can live - and improve - for many years. If Chardonnay is the white wine world's Mercedes (or its Toyota?), then Riesling is its Ferrari.

• Müller Thurgau Genetic research was believed to show this to be a cross of Riesling and Gutedel, not of Riesling and Silvaner as formerly believed. But this has been contested recently, and it was probably Riesling and Madeleine Royal instead. Whatever it origins though, it remains one of the vices of the German wine industry: early ripening, high yielding, and planted all over the place since the 60's, it produces tanker loads of rubbish, rarely rising to the dizzy heights of mediocrity. Some ambitious growers experiment with dry styles, low yields, and even new oak barrels, to squeeze something interesting out of (or rather into?) it, and call it "Rivaner" to distinguish it from ordinary MT. Given its ancestors one should probably call it "Riedel" instead ;-).

• Silvaner An old variety, loosing ground to the new crossings. Unfortunately it is used very much a workhorse grape for making bland wines. It finds its greatest expression in some of the dry wines of Franken, where it can be reminiscent of a good Chablis (when grown on limestone soils), or even be opulent with exotic fruit notes. To call it ``Sylvaner" is illegal in Germany, which is why I will not do so.

• Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) Traditionally it is called "Ruländer", and under this name it is usually made in a rich, oily, sweetish style. The trend for modern ``Grauburgunder" has been to drier and crisper wines in recent years. New oak is increasingly applied with some success (and excess), mainly in Baden and the Pfalz.

• Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) Widely grown to make dry wines, which can be among Germanies best dry wines, with nice melon and pear aromas. Many producers hold it in higher regard than Grauburgunder. Among the trendy ones it is a prime candidate for oak treatment. Baden and the Pfalz are particularly successful.

• Scheurebe A successful Riesling / Silvaner cross, capable of high quality. The best Rheinpfalz producers, and some others, make gorgeous wines from this variety (but less subtle than Riesling), often with aromas of red currant and grape fruit. Good for dry and sweet wines, but only if made with care, from a good site.

• Rieslaner A relatively rare and demanding Riesling / Silvaner cross, with a lot of (dramatic rather than subtle) Riesling-character. In the Pfalz Müller Catoir is the master of this grape. It is more widely successful in Franken, hitting its heights usually as a dessert wine.

• Other whites include Kerner, Huxelrebe, Gewürztraminer, Traminer (Clevner), Chardonnay, Muskateller (Muscat), Morio-Muskat, Elbling, Ehrenfelser, Gutedel (Chasselas), Bacchus, Faberrebe, Siegerrebe, Ortega.

• Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) German Pinot Noirs used to be (and to some extent still are) "white wines with color", sweetish and dull. They often were made into pink "Weissherbst" wines, occasionally even as pink ice wines. In recent years though, ambitious producers have joined the search for the holy grail of red wine, with low yields, higher must weight, extraction, and tannin levels, and maturation in new oak. These serious red wines are all the rage, and sell at serious prices with astonishing speed. Some truely fine pinot noirs have started to emerge, but they are vastly outnumbered by "me too" red wines of uninspiring quality.

• Other reds include Portugieser, Trollinger, Dornfelder, Schwarzriesling (Müllerrebe / Meunier), Lemberger (Blaufränkischer), Staint Laurent.