Rieslingfeier 2015 is coming up on Saturday, January 31, in New York City. This is an extraordinary annual wine event – now in its third year – centered on German Riesling, with an impressive line-up of world-famous winemakers from Germany participating. This year, 11 winemakers will attend, all belonging to the elite of German winemakers, including Klaus Peter Keller, Egon Müller and Johannes Leitz, to name a few. Rieslingfeier is orchestrated by Stephen Bitterolf of the vom Boden wine importing company.
Joining in
Annette Schiller, ombiasyPR and WineTours, and Christian Schiller, schiller-wine, are looking forward to this celebration of German Riesling. We will be at the Rieslingfeier Dinner, at one or two seminars, and the Riesling Crawl. We are looking forward to meeting the participating German elite winemakers. Many of them we know personally. Some of them we call our friends.
The visit of Weingut Selbach-Oster was one of the highlights of the Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014). The 3 forthcoming Germany Wine Tours in 2015 include tastings with Johannes Leitz, Weingut Josef Leitz, Klaus Peter and Julia Keller, Weingut Keller and Roman Niewodniczanski, Weingut Van Volxem, in addition to many other elite wine producers, including some not yet well known outside of Germany.
See:
4 Wine Tours by ombiasy coming up in 2015: Germany-East, Germany-South. Germany-Nord and Bordeaux
Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
Germany-South Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
German Wine and Culture Tour by ombiasy, 2013
Rieslingfeier Dinner
The cornerstone event is the Rieslingfeier Dinner. Inspired by Daniel Johnnes’s famous Burgundy fête “La Paulée,” it is very likely the greatest German wine “BYOB” dinner in the world, with both producers and guests bringing special bottles from their cellars to share.
This year, the Rieslingfeier Dinner will take place at the Reynard, Wythe Hotel, 80 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. There will be 11 tables with 1 winemaker and 10 guests at each table. The five course meal will be customized by Reynard’s Chef Sean Rembold to pair with dry and off-dry Riesling; wine service will be presided over by Rieslingfeier Chef Sommelier Raj Vaidya along with a group of the country's top sommeliers.
Picture: Christian G.E. Schiller with Eva Fricke in Rüdesheim, GermanyRieslingfeier Seminars
Leading up to the 2015 Rieslingfeier Dinner, the day will be filled by interesting seminars and tastings in wine stores.
All Rieslingfeier seminars will take place at The Modern, 9 West 53rd Street, New York, NY. There will be 4 seminars:
10:00 am to 11:30 pm Terroir, Riesling and the Rhein, Eva Fricke, Keller, Leitz. Moderator: David Schildknecht
11:00 am to 12:30 am What is a Kabinett? Karthäuserhof, Egon Müller, Selbach-Oster. Moderators: John Gilman and Stephen Bitterolf
12:30 am to 2:00 pm Riesling Reborn Immich-Betterieberg, Van Volxem, Von Winning. Moderator: David Schildknecht
1:30 pm to 3:00 pm Saar Diversity, Hofgut Falkenstein, Van Volxem, Zilliken. Moderator: David Schildknecht
Riesling Crawl
The Riesling Crawl is a free and open-to-the-public tasting, pairing the attending German winemakers with several of New York’s top German wine retailers. These tastings will focus largely on current-vintage releases but there will likely be a surprise or two along the way. So break out your NYC subway map and get ready.
12:30-2:30pm: Egon Müller IV & Hanno Zilliken
Astor Wines & Spirits, 399 Lafayette Street
12:30-2:30pm: Johannes Weber (Hofgut Falkenstein)
Chambers Street Wines, 148 Chambers Street
12:30-2:30pm: Johannes Selbach (Selbach-Oster) & Christian Vogt (Karthäuserhof)
Flatiron Wines & Spirits, 929 Broadway
2:30-4:30pm: Roman Niewodniczanski
Back Label Wine Merchants, 111 West 20th Street
2:30-4:30pm: Andreas Hütwohl (Von Winning) & Gernot Kollmann (Immich-Batterieberg)
Crush Wines & Spirits, 153 East 57th Street
2:30-4:30pm: Klaus Peter Keller
Moore Brothers Wine Company, 33 East 20th Street
2:30-4:30pm: Eva Fricke & Johannes Leitz
To be announced...
Attending Winemakers
Johannes Weber, Hofgut Falkenstein, Mosel (Saar)
Eva Fricke, Weingut Eva Fricke, Rheingau
Gernot Kollmann, Weingut Immich-Batterieberg, Mosel
Christian Vogt, Weingut Karthäuserhof, Mosel(Ruwer)
Klaus Peter and Julia Keller, Weingut Keller, Rheinhessen
Johannes Leitz, Weingut Josef Leitz, Rheingau
Egon Müller, Weingut Egon Müller, Mosel (Saar)
Johannes and Barbara Selbach, Weingut Selbach-Oster, Mosel
Roman Niewodniczanski, Weingut Van Volxem, Mosel (Saar)
Andreas Hütwohl, Weingut Von Winning, Pfalz
Hanno Zilliken, Weingut Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken, Mosel (Saar)
Eric Asimov (New York Times) on Riesling
Eric Asimov: Burgundy and Bordeaux are historic benchmark wines. Barolo is rapidly achieving that status. But German Riesling? In fact, in the 19th century, German Riesling was considered one of the world’s great wines. Then wars, Prohibition and changing tastes turned Riesling from a mainstay into something of a pariah, notwithstanding the beauty and delicacy of the wines. Through the 1980s and ’90s, though Riesling was the darling of wine writers and sommeliers, consumers were unmoved, until the first decade of the new century. Then, in the United States at least, Riesling took off. No, it has not become the new Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio, wines so popular that they became generic terms among mass-market drinkers. Instead, the rising popularity of Riesling signals, to me, the increasing sophistication of Americans who have fallen in love with wine.
Stephen Bitterolf
Rieslingfeier was founded in 2012 by Stephen Bitterolf, a passionate advocate for Germany's culture of winemaking. He was the Wine Director at Crush Wine & Spirits in New York where he helped develop one of the largest German wine programs in the country before founding his own import company, vom Boden.
schiller-wine: Related Postings
4 Wine Tours by ombiasy coming up in 2015: Germany-East, Germany-South. Germany-Nord and Bordeaux
Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
Germany-South Wine Tour by ombiasy, 2014
Weingut Pawis (Saale Unstrut): Estate Tour and Wine Tasting with Kerstin Pawis– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)