Above, a postcard from the German fertilizer industry of the 1920s. At the time, perspectives on soil were changing: Until then, people had spoken of plant growth as being affected by forces; afterward, it was substances. Deficiencies could simply be addressed with the help of agrochemistry. As recently as a decade ago, biodynamic viticulture could be shrugged off as “some dogma about phases of the moon and cow horns.” But now that we find a who’s who of the wine world on the member lists of relevant biodynamic organizations, it’s no longer so easy to cancel adherents to this form of farming. Those…
Romana Echensperger has worked in Germany’s top restaurants, including as head sommelier alongside chef Joachim Wissler at Restaurant Vendôme, a Michelin three-star establishment outside Köln. In 2015 she became a Master of Wine. Today, she works independently and is much in demand as a wine journalist, educator, and consultant. She has also been intensively involved in the topic of biodynamic viticulture. She is the author of “Von der Freiheit den Richtigen Wein zu Machen: Biodynamisches Winzerhandwerk im Portrait.”
Müller-Thurgau was a blessing and a curse for 20th-century Germany. Emily Campeau asks whether new respect from growers can make a contender in the 21st.
“Where are all the dynamic, characterful wines from Germany?” Bastian Fischer asked in exasperation after 16 years in the UK wine trade. This year he answered that question himself by opening his own shop. Trinkfluss Wines, just outside London, focuses “on some of the most electric, food-friendly, and downright delicious wines anywhere,” in Fischer’s view. His new venture, baptized with the German word for drinkability, quenches the thirst for Germany’s full gamut of varieties. But one swallow doesn’t make a summer. The somms and wine aficionados who shop at specialist wine stores like Fischer’s may have embraced German wines, but…...
Liora Levi, high-profile sommelier, television personality, and president of ASI Norwegian Sommelier Association, came late to wine. In its own odd way, that only bolsters her bona fides as a daughter of the north. The countries to the north of the umlaut region can generally be viewed as latecomers to the joys of wine, and white wine in particular. But times change, and opinion makers like Levi have now helped the Nordics become prime drivers of the Riesling Revolution. It is a boom time for whites under the northern lights. As Levi explains in an interview with TRINK, the delayed…...
Zeter assesses the natural bounty of his home, the Pfalz, with the eye of a chef. The soils are his mise en place — the basis of his work — the grape varieties are the ingredients he brings to the table and the bottle. His favorite ingredient — Sauvignon Blanc — has become his trademark. This love came early: in South Africa, 1992, at the Buitenverwachting winery in Cape Town. Now, he is celebrating 15 years as a Sauvignon Blanc iconoclast himself. A recent vertical tasting spanning his first vintage in 2007 to the current release, 2021, made clear the value of following palate…...
If there is an underdog in Germany’s largest winegrowing region, Rheinhessen, it is Scheurebe. Vinified sweet for many years, Scheurebe — pronounced SHOY-ray-beh — largely fell out of fashion. But things changed, and with the dry wine revolution in Germany over the last 20 years, Scheu is back, with — to quote Patti LaBelle — brand new ideas and a new attitude. “Scheu,” as aficionados like to call it, was bred by German viticulturist Justus Georg Scheu in 1916. Unhappy with the many highly acidic and sour Rieslings he encountered, Scheu (the man, not the grape) wanted to create a…...
