Wine Returns to Weinheim

Vines at Kirchenstück, photo credit Alexander Gysler

A handful of Weinheim visionaries are reshaping the future of German wine in the country’s largest winegrowing region with lessons from the past.

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Similar Posts

  • ·

    A Remembrance of German Wines Past

    My twenty-something self left two gifts for the older man I would become: a doctorate in applied mathematics and four small, looseleaf notebooks. The degree opened many doors and reinforced my ability to do independent research, perform analyses, and document the results. The notebooks, along with labels from many of the bottles, form an archive of my first decade tasting wine.        Between 1969 and 1979, a period covering my student and early career years, I kept detailed notes on almost everything I tasted. During most of that time, I lived in Evanston, Illinois. It was dry until 1975, necessitating runs…...

    Membership Required

    You must be a member to access this content.

    View Membership Levels

    Already a member? Log in here
  • ·

    Oliver Zeter’s Mise En Pfalz

    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…...

    Membership Required

    You must be a member to access this content.

    View Membership Levels

    Already a member? Log in here
  • · ·

    3 Can’t-Miss Sparkling Wines (with Umlauts)

    ​The world of sparkling wines is changing for the better. The number of producers approaching this beverage in serious, artisanal, and creative ways continues to climb. “Grower Sekt” from Austria and Germany is very much en vogue. We are witnessing a tremendous push to quality. For a long time, “mass over class” was the motto, especially in Germany. But for a new generation, awareness of terroir and a trend toward reducing residual sugar are increasingly the focus. No stone has been left unturned in Austria, either. For several years, Austrian Sekt has been governed by a three-tiered quality pyramid: “Sekt…...

    Membership Required

    You must be a member to access this content.

    View Membership Levels

    Already a member? Log in here
  • · ·

    Die Rebe ist ein Sonnenkind

    for S.B. with love  Die Rebe ist ein Sonnenkind. Sie liebt den Berg und haβt den Wind.So open your door already—for god’s sake, just let me in!  Nothing to fear from wild slopes—a matter of terraces and grading.Sankt Aldegund, your roses—they labor on unforgiving slate.   Vigor derives from parameters. The desert ends with water.Ritual is an amphora: it gives life room to breathe.   The hag at the door is never a hag—she’s always a secret queen. Don’t you fear that ugly mug comes bringing revelation.  The special red plum from the Mosel is imbued with healing power.If you go to the…...

    Membership Required

    You must be a member to access this content.

    View Membership Levels

    Already a member? Log in here
  • ·

    Varietal Psychology

    There’s no end to writings about how wine affects people. It begets relaxation and well-being, of course, but also stimulating discussion. The right bottle can be just the spark needed to light up a dull evening. But can certain wines channel our moods and perceptions — our very psychology — in different ways?  This question was often posed by Wolf-Dietrich Salwey, a vintner who passed away in a car accident in 2011. Known for his unconventional character, Salwey routinely invited neighbors, colleagues, and friends to his estate in Oberrotweil in the Kaiserstuhl to explore the influence of specific grape varieties…...

    Membership Required

    You must be a member to access this content.

    View Membership Levels

    Already a member? Log in here
  • · ·

    Remembering Werner Näkel

    On Saturday 13 September, Germany lost a winemaking legend when Werner Näkel passed away at the age of 72 in Dernau, his home village in the Ahr Valley and seat of the family estate, Weingut Meyer-Näkel. Werner Näkel will be remembered as a founding father of great German Pinot Noir, a wine which under the name of Spätburgunder had for a long time simply languished in the vinous doldrums of Germany, before, in the 1980s, Näkel and a handful of like-minded colleagues began to wonder why the grape, so highly revered worldwide for its red Burgundy renditions, should not be…...

    Membership Required

    You must be a member to access this content.

    View Membership Levels

    Already a member? Log in here

© 2025, TRINK Magazine. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from TRINK.