Martin Zwick, the wine blogger from Berlin, is rapidly building up a reputation as being a mover and shaker in the German wine scene. This is due to the various Berlin Cups that he is organizing. It all started with the BerlinRieslingCup a few years ago, a blindtasting and ranking in November of what Martin Ziwck considered the leading Grosses Gewaechs wines - the ultra-premium dry wines of the VDP producers, Germany’s elite wine makers - that were released on September 1 of the same year. Initially, people did not pay much attention to the BerlinRieslingCup, but this has clearly changed over the years. This year’s flights were put together by David Schildknecht and tasted and rated a few weeks ago by a group of experts. I will report about the results in due course.
But the BerlinCup is no longer just about Grosses Gewaechs wines, Martin has added a (1) BerlinGutsweinCup – ranking entry level wines, a (2) BerlinKabinettCup – ranking lightly sweet wines at the Kabinett level and recently for the first time a (3) BerlinSpaetburgunderCup – ranking German Pinot Noir wines.
For more, see:
BerlinGutsrieslingCup 2013– Rating Entry-level Rieslings from Germany
BerlinKabinettCup 2013 - Kabinett 2012, Germany
Germany’s Ultra Premium Dry Riesling Wines – The Berlin Riesling Cup 2012
Red Wine Revolution in Germany
There is a red wine revolution going on in Germany and the world increasingly takes note of it. Of course, given its location, the red wines of Germany tend to be not like the fruity red wines we know from warmer countries, but lean and more elegant, with a lot of finesse. 30 years ago, the share of red wine in total German wine output was not more than 10 percent; in the international wine scene, people would not talk about German red wine. But this is changing. Germany now produces red wines that can compete with the best of the world; the share of red wines in terms of production has increased to about 35 percent now in Germany and increasingly the international market takes note of what is happening in Germany.
Pinot Noir in Germany
Today, Germany is the third biggest producer of Pinot Noir (called Spaetburgunder in Germany), after France and the US, with more planted than Australia and New Zealand combined. However, despite being the world’s third largest producer of Pinot Noir, the country exports just over 1% of its production.
BerlinSpaetburgunderCup 2011/2013
The BerlinSpaetburgunderCup 2011/2013 took place in 2013, tasted and ranked were wines from mostly 2011, but also some from 2010 and 2009. Master of Wine Caro Maurer from Bonn put together the flights. 34 wines were in the competition. A group of sommeliers, wine retailers, wine bloggers, wine marketing people and Pinot Noir lovers tasted and ranked 34 wines. Und als special guest die Winzerin Melanie Bickel-Stumpf. These were all ultra-premium wines, but not only VDP.Grosses Gewaechs wines.
The Ranking
1. 2011 Rings "Saumagen"
2. 2010 Gutzler "Morstein"
3. 2011 Huber "Schlossberg"
4. 2011 Meyer-Näkel "Pfarrwingert"
5. 2011 Stadt Klingenberg-B. Baltes "Schlossberg"
6. 2011 F. Becker "St. Paul"
7. 2011 Diel "Caroline"
8. 2011 Huber "Bienenberg"
9. 2011 Thörle "Hölle"
10. 2011 Wöhrwag "Kreidenstein"
11. 2011 Keller "Bürgel"
12. 2011 Krebs "Musikantenbuckel"
13. 2010 Knipser "Burgweg"
14. 2011 Ziereisen "Jaspis" PN
15. 2011 Keller "Frauenberg"
16. 2011 Aldinger "Marienglas"
17. 2011 Stodden "Rosenthal"
18. 2011 Kesseler "Schlossberg"
19. 2011 Fürst "Hundsrück"
20. 2011 Stodden "Herrenberg"
21. 2010 R&C Schneider "Engelsberg"
22. 2011 Kesseler "Höllenberg"
23. 2011 Jülg PN
24. 2011 Dr Heger "Schlossberg"
25. 2011 Chat Sauvage "Kapellenberg"
26. 2009 Duijn SD
27. 2011 Enderle&Moll "Muschelkalk"
28. 2011 Enderle&Moll "Buntsandstein"
29. 2011 Chat Sauvage Schlossberg
30. 2011 Fürst "Schlossberg"
31. 2011 Keller "S"
32. 2011 Steinmetz "Paulinsberg"
33. 2011 Ziereisen Jaspis Spätburgunder AR
2010 Christmann "Idig" (off-bottle)
Schiller Wine - Related Postings
Visiting Armin and Caroline Diel and their Schlossgut Diel in Burg Layen in Germany
President Obama Serves a “German” Riesling at State Dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao
Visiting Long Shadows Vintners in Walla Walla, Washington State - Where Armin Diel’s Poet’s Leap Riesling is Made, USA
Caroline and Armin Diel, Schlossgut Diel (Nahe Valley), Presented their New Wines (Vintage 2012), Germany
Kuenstler, Meyer-Naekel, Wirsching– Winemaker Dinner at Kronenschlösschen in Hattenheim, Rheingau, Germany
A Pinot Noir Star: Visiting August Kesseler and his Weingut August Kesseler in Assmannshausen, Germany
The Wines of Up and Coming Winzerhof Thoerle, Rheinhessen
Surprising the World with their Pinot Noir: Johannes and Christoph Thoerle, Winzerhof Thoerle, Rheinhessen, Germany
Chat Sauvage Versus Peter Querbach– An Impromptu Pinot Noir Wine Tasting with Kai Buhrfeind at His Grand Cru Wine Bar in Frankfurt, Germany
BerlinGutsrieslingCup 2013– Rating Entry-level Rieslings from Germany
BerlinKabinettCup 2013 - Kabinett 2012, Germany
Germany’s Ultra Premium Dry Riesling Wines – The Berlin Riesling Cup 2012