Sekt: The Chequered History
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Sekt: The Chequered History

ByAnne Krebiehl

For the longest time, Sekt was a dirty word. It stood for bottles of inexpensive, easy fizz with obnoxious plastic corks to be found on the street, next to the debris of spent fireworks, on New Year’s Day. Leftovers from high jinks and cheap thrills the night before. But that was then. Today, Sekt’s star is once again on the rise. We cannot even say that it is returning to its former glory because the story of German Sekt today is unprecedented and, quite literally, effervescent. It was the 20th century that destroyed with consummate efficiency what was once so promising, so frivolous,…...

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View onto the terraced Assmannshäuser Hollenberg vineyards in summer overlooking the Rhine River
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Rheingau – Past, Present, (And Future?) Greatness

ByValerie Kathawala

The Rheingau. A small, splendidly historic region of aristocratic estates and superb terroir awaiting an energizing charge. The steady ship in Germany’s often storm-tossed seas, navigating a course of admirable quality through the centuries. Its large estates set global benchmarks; its noble mien, iconic landscapes, and heralded vineyards have always set it apart. In recent times, however, the Rheingau’s identity has become somewhat obscured by the dominance of large, in some cases impersonal estates and  global warming has diminished its long-held prominence as one of the few German wine regions capable of achieving consistent ripeness. If it is often described as “underachieving,” the word does hint at…...

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Balance with a Bit of an Accent
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Balance with a Bit of an Accent

ByPaula Redes Sidore

“Free your mind and the rest will follow.”  Coming from one of the co-owners of Germany’s oldest wine trading houses, one might suspect a quote from Goethe, Schiller, or Nietzsche. It’s actually the American R&B/pop group, En Vogue. And that makes for a jarring, if fitting, introduction to my conversation with these stewards of tradition in German wine that look back to 1786 in Worms as easily as they look ahead to 2019 Organic Madonna. P.J. Valckenberg has the history and the pedigree, no question. Its customers have included the Swedish royal family and Charles Dickens. In addition to a truly impressive portfolio…...

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German Wine’s Radical Love Machine
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German Wine’s Radical Love Machine

ByValerie Kathawala

Known to his 18,000-plus Instagram followers as @soilpimp, Robert Dentice is a German wine collector and vinyl fanatic, founder of the Riesling Study event series, and a driving force behind a brand new project called sourcematerialwine that is set to spread his evangelical zeal for German wine to the wide world. Short of spending an evening at one of his legendary Riesling-, Silvaner-, or Weissburgunder-fuelled music events — and he’d sincerely love nothing more than to have you there — the next best way to get a sense of the radiant positivity he brings to German wine is to cue…...

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Landwein: Flouting Rules to Follow Instinct
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Landwein: Flouting Rules to Follow Instinct

ByKatharina Matheis

Germany seems to require an official examination for everything. Qualitätsweine (“quality wines”) are no exception. Those that fail the test are slapped with the Landwein label. In April 2015, a group of top growers from Baden, deep in Germany’s southwest, joined forces to rebel against the official inspection system. Flouting what officials would think of as a demotion, they decided to wear Landwein as a badge of honor. Baden has long been seen as the kinder, more conventional Germany. Thus Landwein is a direct challenge to that sensibility, one that takes on more significance because it seemed the unlikeliest of places for revolt.  It happened the way so many…...

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Black and white close up of a record player next to a window
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Germany’s Blanc de Noir: In Praise of B Sides

ByPaula Redes Sidore

I’ve been a fan of B sides since, well, pretty much since there have been B sides. Record companies have historically used vinyl’s flipside as a holding pen for unreleased or less desirable concept material. Pieces that don’t fit the brand; supplementary songs with minimal hopes and lower aspirations. Filler. Yet, to me B sides embody the edgy and unpredictable, the vulnerable creative underbelly of both artist and medium.  Let’s call rosé, the pink “wunder” of the last decade, our A side.  Industry figures show that rosé now constitutes some 9% of the global wine market. Thirty-nine percent of wine drinkers in…...

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German Wines’ Compass Swings North

German Wines’ Compass Swings North

ByKathleen Willcox

For decades, America was indeed the promised land: A vast nation of eager consumers with a low bar for entry. German winemakers were among the throng of sellers vying to win a sliver of Americans’ massive spending power. But times — along with politics and tariffs — have changed. Now, German winemakers are finding that their most loyal and free-spending audience may actually be up north. How Did We Get Here? The public’s perception of German wine is capricious; more so, arguably, than that of any other wine-producing nation. After rising to prominence over the 19th century, German wine suffered…...

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Sammie Steinmetz: A Voice for Change in the Mosel
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Sammie Steinmetz: A Voice for Change in the Mosel

ByValerie Kathawala

Sammie Steinmetz is one half of Weingut Günther Steinmetz, a mid-sized, family-run winery in Brauneberg on the Mosel. Born in Pensacola, Florida, Sammie came to Germany in 2007 as an enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base not far from the winery. She’d already planned on settling in the country when her term of service ended (“because Riesling,” she laughs). But a chance invitation to a wine-tasting introduced her to fifth-generation winemaker Stefan Steinmetz. Two weeks after meeting, they were dating and they married a few years later.  In 2014, Sammie took early retirement from the…...

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Silvaner’s Moment is Now
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Silvaner’s Moment is Now

ByChristoph Raffelt

Silvaner. It’s complicated. Ask about its nature or character, and like as not you’ll get one answer: asparagus. With delicate vegetal aromas and moderate acidity, Silvaner is indeed a near perfect pairing for the fabled stalk that emerges from the earth to fill German grocery stores and market stalls annually between April and June. Yet, stop for a minute and imagine: what if there were more? Silvaner is viewed as a national counterpoint to Burgundian Chardonnay or Saumur Chenin Blanc. For many years Silvaner was Germany’s most important grape variety, less inclined toward fruity fun and more toward structure, texture, spice, and earth. De facto it…...

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