Bottle of Furztrocken Riesling wine from German estate Achim Reis in the Mosel
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What’s German for Drier Than Dry? Furztrocken, of course

ByPaula Redes Sidore

The dark wit of Berlin. Dangerously low water levels in the Rhine River. Black bread. Germany does trocken like few others. And then there’s the wine. Despite its reputation as the land of Blue Nun, more than 60 percent of the wines made in Germany are dry. And within that 60 percent, there are discernible levels of dry, drier, and driest. So dry, in fact, that there’s a strangely specific word for it. (Of course there’s a word. It’s Germany. There’s always a word.) Furztrocken. Fart Dry. Literally. As difficult to grasp as I find a term like feinherb, it’s Kinderspiel when compared to furztrocken. Then again, mindset…...

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Oliver Zeter’s Mise En Pfalz
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Oliver Zeter’s Mise En Pfalz

ByNils Kevin Puls

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…...

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Famous bow of Germany's Mosel River seen from Punderich.
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Mosel – The Myth. The Legend. The Reality

BySteven Sidore

The Mosel, Germany’s oldest winegrowing region, knows how to beguile. The Rheingau swathes itself in the trappings of nobility, Baden boasts of its sunshine, the Mittelrhein beckons with Romanticism. The Mosel, however, reaches straight for myth.  There are many recaps of the growing region readily available, so let’s focus on something else instead: what makes the Mosel unique — now, then, and, likely, in the future. Not for nothing is the biggest annual wine fair along the Mosel River entitled “Mythos Mosel.” The name, and the event itself, attest to the enduring power the Mosel holds in the imagination of the wine-drinking…...

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Austrian winemaker Michael Moosbrugger leans against wine casks in his Schloss Gobelsburg estate.
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In Conversation with Michael Moosbrugger, Part II

ByDavid Schildknecht

​It’s hard to think of any one who has had greater influence over where Austrian wine is heading than Schloss Gobelsburg proprietor and Austria’s Traditionsweingüter (ÖTW) chairman Michael Moosbrugger. In part two of their conversation, David Schildknecht sounds out Moosbrugger on classification, appellation, and how music can illuminate wine. The following interview – translated and edited by the interviewer – was conducted in writing as well as orally in spring 2022. Occasional excerpts from earlier conversations and correspondence have been interpolated. Consolidation under topical headings as well as the insertion of punctuation were at the interviewer’s discretion in an effort…...

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Foehn — The Alpine Wind

Foehn — The Alpine Wind

ByDennis Lapuyade

“The Foehn wind is a real affineur of grapes . . .” from the diary of Weingut Bründlmayer Evidence from wine regions everywhere suggests that if cool climate viticulture is to survive, then it must move north — or, in Switzerland’s case, up. Warming temperatures in formerly marginal regions such as Burgundy and Piedmont now require changes in viticulture and/or additions to the permitted roster of grapes just to keep up. Even with successful change, however, the freshness, delicacy, and intricate architecture we love in Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo may be harder to come by. By contrast, Switzerland and parts…...

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Rotling Outlaws
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Rotling Outlaws

ByNils Kevin Puls

​The sun blazes. The air shimmers. On the horizon four figures throw long shadows across the dry, crumbling ground. They are headed toward a city. Doors swing open. The four step from light into dark, their throats dusty and dry. Behind a deserted bar stands a man. He pushes four full glasses over to them. Out of the glasses sloshes a wine as red as the setting sun. If you aren’t thirsty by now, you should at least be hearing the melody of a harmonica. This is how the opening scene of a revival—the Rotling revival—could begin. The four men…...

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