For more see:
Weingut Gunderloch– The New Generation: Owner Johannes Hasselbach in Washington DC, US
"Wurzelwerk" Goes America: 3 Vineyards, 3 Winemakers and 9 Wines
Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
Martin Zwick 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 blind tasting and ranking in November of what Martin Zwick 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.
Today, the BerlinCup is no longer just about Grosses Gewaechs wines. Martin added a (1) BerlinGutsweinCup – ranking entry level wines, a (2) BerlinKabinettCup – ranking lightly sweet wines at the Kabinett level and (3) BerlinSpaetburgunderCup – ranking German Pinot Noir wines. For more, see below.
BerlinRieslingCup
The Berlin RieslingCup is a very special annual ranking of German wines, at least for 2 reasons. First, it includes only dry ultra-premium Rieslings, mainly Grosses Gewaechs wines. So, (1) the whole segment of red wines (accounting for about 1/3 of German wine production) is excluded (2) as is the segment of fruity sweet and noble sweet Rieslings (which are so popular in the German export markets) and (3) as is the non-Riesling white wine segment, which is being pushed by many in the German wine industry. Second, and what makes this ranking so interesting, it is a very early ranking, basically the first one after the release of the wines in September.
See also:
New Vintage Tasting at Schlossgut Diel, with Armin and Caroline Diel, Germany, 2014
Grosses Gewaechs
What is a VDP.Grosses Gewaechs wine? There is currently a bit of confusion (and there will be even more confusion in the years to come) as (1) Grosses Gewaechs was a term that was created by the VDP only a few years ago and (2) the VDP has created a new classification for German wines that differs radically from the German standard classification (and is still in the process of refining and implementing it). The latest revisions were those that came into effect with the vintage 2012.
Grosses Gewaechs and the new German Wine Classification
Although many people think that there is only one wine classification system in Germany – the classification system of the Law of 1971 – this is not correct. True, the classification system of the Law of 1971 is the standard classification system in Germany and the vast majority of winemakers in Germany use this approach. A large number of winemakers, however, have moved away from the standard, in particular the VDP producers.
In a nutshell, the VDP is moving to a classification system that resembles very much the classification system in the Bourgogne. The classification of the VDP puts the terroir principle at the center of its classification approach.
See also:
The new (VDP) Wine Classification in Germany: Tasting Weingut Robert Weil Wines from Gutswein to Grosse Lage Wine
With the latest modifications of earlier this year, the absolutely finest vineyards are called Grosse Lage (for the 2011 vintage still called Erste Lage) and dry wines from these super top vineyards are called Grosses Gewaechs. Grosses Gewächs wines are the finest dry wines from Germany’s finest vineyards.
To qualify for the Grosses Gewaechs label, a number of criteria need to be respected. (i) The fruit has to come from a Grosse Lage (for the 2011 vintage still called Erste Lage) vineyard. (ii) At harvest, the grapes need to be at least at Spaetlese level in terms of the sugar content. (iii) Only certain – typical - grape varieties are allowed, including Riesling and Spaetburgunder. Riesling is the only varietal allowed for Grosse Lage wines in the Mosel, Nahe, and Mittelrhein, but grapes like Spaetburgunder (Pinot Noir), Lemberger, Fruehburgunder, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris), Gewuerztraminer, and Silvaner are included in other regions. (iv) Further restrictions apply: there are yield restrictions; only hand picking of grapes is permitted and harvest must be late in the autumn.
BerlinRieslingCup 2014
This year’s BerlinRieslingCup took place in early October and included 36 wines, up from 33 wines the year before. By definition, the 36 wines represented a subjective selection, but I think it probably included a substantial share of the ultra-premium Rieslings that could be the grand cru top wines of the 2013 vintage. 2 bottles came on the table. It is a blind tasting.
Here are the results – the top 20 ultra-premium German Rieslings from the 2013 vintage:
1 Gunderloch Rothenberg GG
2 Kühling Gillot Rothenberg GG
3 Emrich-Schönleber Frühlingsplätzchen GG
4 Wagner-Stempel Höllberg GG
5 Kühling-Gillot Pettenthal GG
6 Keller Westhofen
7 von Winning Kalkofen GG
8 Haidle Pulvermächer GG
9 Keller Morstein GG
10 Wittmann Brunnenhäuschen GG
11 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle GG
12 Keller Pettenthal GG
13 Pfaffmann-Wageck Goldberg
14 Jakob Jung Siegelsberg GG
15 Dr. Loosen Erdener Prälat GG
16 Buhl Ungeheuer GG
17 Emrich-Schönleber Halenberg GG
18 Weil Gräfenberg GG
19 Diel Burgberg GG
20 Heymann-Löwenstein Laubach GG
21 Kranz Kalmit GG
22 Schäfer-Fröhlich Felseneck GG
23 Buhl Jesuitengarten GG
24 Wittmann Morstein GG
25 Fürst Centgrafenberg GG
26 Battenfeld-Spanier Schwarzer Herrgott GG
27 A. Kesseler Schlossberg GG
28 Stefan Winter Geyersberg GG
29 Rebholz Ganzhorn GG
30 A. Christmann Idig GG
31 Bürklin Wolf Ungeheuer GG
32 Gut Hermannsberg Bastei GG
33 Heymann-Löwensein Blaufüßer Lay GG
34 Katrin Wind Kalmit
35 Achim von Oetinger Hohenrain GG
36 Stahl Damaszener
Tasting Panel
The tasting panel changes every year. For this year’s tasting, it was composed of:
Angelika Deutsch/Kulinarischer Salon
Sylvia Petz/Havel&Petz PR Wien
Mira Nocon/Emma2
Markus Vahlefeld/Huffington Post
Manfred Klimek/Falstaff+VINUM
Michael Quentel/WEINWISSER
Christoph Geyler/RUTZ
Matthias Dathan/GM+Weinladen Schmidt
Jürgen Klucken/Riesling-Liebhaber
Nikolai Lassmann/Riesling-Liebhaber
schiller-wine: Related Postings (Berlin Cups)
Germany’s Best Ultra-premium Dry Riesling Wines - BerlinRieslingCup 2014, Germany
Germany’s Best Ultra-premium Dry Riesling Wines - BerlinRieslingCup 2013, Germany
Germany’s Ultra Premium Dry Riesling Wines – The Berlin Riesling Cup 2012
Germany’s Top Wines – The Berlin Riesling Cup 2011 Ranking
Martin Zwick’s BerlinGutsweinrieslingCup 2014 - Rating Entry-level Rieslings from Germany's Best Producers
BerlinGutsrieslingCup 2013– Rating Entry-level Rieslings from Germany
Berlin Gutsriesling Cup 2012, Germany
Martin Zwick's BerlinKabinettCup 2014, Germany
BerlinKabinettCup 2013 - Kabinett 2012, Germany
Germany's Best Pinot Noir Wines - BerlinSpätburgunderCup 2012/2014
BerlinSpaetburgunderCup 2011/2013, Germany
Schiller-wine - Related Postings
New Vintage Tasting at Schlossgut Diel, with Armin and Caroline Diel, Germany, 2014
Visiting Armin and Caroline Diel and their Schlossgut Diel in Burg Layen in Germany
Visiting Long Shadows Vintners in Walla Walla, Washington State - Where Armin Diel’s Poet’s Leap Riesling is Made, USA
Terry Theise: German 2013 Vintage Wines - Highlights and Superlatives, Germany
When Americans Drink German Wine - What They Choose
The new (VDP) Wine Classification in Germany: Tasting Weingut Robert Weil Wines from Gutswein to Grosse Lage Wine
Steffen Christmann (Weingut A. Christmann) and Wilhelm Weil (Weingut Robert Weil) Presented the New Wine Classification of the VDP, Germany
Weingut Gunderloch– The New Generation: Owner Johannes Hasselbach in Washington DC, US
"Wurzelwerk" Goes America: 3 Vineyards, 3 Winemakers and 9 Wines
Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
Germany-South Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014