Annette Schiller and I had the pleasure to join Justin Bryan and his Traubenhaus team, a leading German wine importer/ distributor/ online retailer in Texas, for a German Wine and Food Dinner at the Omni Barton Creek Report and Spa in Austin on Monday, March 21, 2016. It was a great celebration of the wines and the foods of Germany.
Interestingly, the wines at the Austin dinner, which took place 3 days after a major wine tasting of German wines with Phil Bernstein, from Mac Arthur Beverages, a leading wine retailer for German wine on the US East Coast if not in the whole of the country, were very different from the wines which were poured in Washington DC. In a nutshell: The Washington DC tasting was representing the traditional US market for German wine, while the Austin German Wine and Food dinner was representing the “New Germany”.
See:
Phil Bernstein of MacArthur Beverages Presents the new Vintage (2014) to the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter), USA/ Germany
The New Germany (from an American Perspective): Dry, Red and Sparkling – Tasting at the American Wine Society with Annette Schiller, USA/ Germany
At Weingut Matthias Müller, Mittelrhein, with Traubenhaus, their US-Importer, Germany
To begin with, while in Washington DC, all the wines poured were Rieslings, none of the wines at the Austin dinner were Rieslings. Instead, the Pinot grape varieties dominated the tasting in Austin, with Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir being poured. Riesling accounts for 1/3 of the German white wine production. 2/3 is accounted for by other grape varieties. Among the non-Riesling white grape varieties, Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) are increasingly being planted. And Germany has become the #1 Pinot Blanc producer in the world and the #2 Pinot Gris producer (after Italy) in the world. The American consumers are increasingly discovering these wines from Germany.
While in Washington DC, the Mosel accounted for a substantial part of the tasting, we did not drink any Mosel wine in Austin. Instead, most of the wines came from the Pfalz. In a way, the Pfalz, as Justin Bryan explained, is an extension of the Alsace region into Germany. In fact, some of the vineyards of one of the presented Pfalz producer (Weingut Nauerth-Gnagy) are located across the border in Alsace, France.
We had no red wine in Washington DC. In Austin, red wines played a major role. Indeed, the most expensive wine in Austin was a Pinot Noir from the Ahr region. About 1/3 of the Germany’s wine output is red wine. Germany has become one of the leading Pinot Noir producers in the world. At a recent tasting of Pinot Noirs around the world excluding Burgundy), organized by the Decanter Wine Journal, a German Pinot Noir from the Ahr region (Weingut Jean Stodden) was selected as the best wine. But the US market is very slow in discovering what Germany now has to offer in terms of premium and ultra-premium red wines. German red wines are difficult to find in the US. At the Austin German Wine and Food Dinner, we had 2 Pinot Noirs from the Ahr region.
Finally, while the majority of the wines in Washington DC had residual sweetness, in Austin, all wines were bone-dry, except for the last wine, which was poured with the dessert. See below on the question if German wine culture is dry or sweet.
Traubenhaus
Traubenhaus is a relatively new, Texas-based importer/ distributor/ retailer of German wine. The two key-persons in the company are Germany-based Paul Steinbach and Texas-based Justin Bryan. They met a few years ago in Germany, when Justin was working in Germany, and decided to create a German wine import company in Texas. The company has an interesting and expanding portfolio. Ultimately, they want to become the leading importer of German wine in the US, with winemakers from all 13 German wine regions in their portfolio, said Paul.
The third owner is Chris Comfort, in charge of IT, who I met in Austin. Also present at the event was Abigail Perry, the new Austin representative of Traubenhaus.
Recently, Paul and Bryan visited their German producers and invited me to join them. I was able to come along on their visit of Weingut Matthias Müller in Spay in the Mittelrhein.
Traubenhaus: Our selection of German wine, most of which was previously unavailable in the United States, represents a wide range of grape varietals and styles from top producers. Each wine is specially curated by our resident German wine expert, Paul Steinbach, to provide a characteristic German wine experience. Handmade, natural, exceptional—these are all qualities you can expect from the German wine presented by Traubenhaus.
Since 2007, Weingut Matthias Müller has been a member of the VDP, the association of about 200 German elite winemakers.
About Chef Alice Gonzalez
Chef Alice Gonzalez’s personal food philosophy is “being true to yourself and evoking feeling through food,” says the staff at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa.
After her initial culinary education at Johnson & Whales University, in Providence, Rhode Island, where she graduated with honors, Chef Gonzalez continued her education working in different cities throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Inter alia, she worked under Chef Todd English at the Olives restaurant in Charlestown and under Chefs Grant Achatz and Dave Beran at Alinea in Chicago. Before joining the Barton Creek Resort & Spa’s culinary team in May 2015, Chef Gonzalez was the Executive Sous Chef at Morimoto Napa under Chef Kang Kaun.
Celebrating the Wines and Foods of Germany
appetizer
German Sausages, Wurst, Mustards and Breads Station
Wine Pairing: 2014 Nauerth-Gnagy Pinot Noir Dry Rosé
dinner
first course
Skate Schnitzel
Wine Pairing: 2012 Weegmüller Pinot Blanc
second course
Smoked Braised Pork, Cabbage, Marble Potatoes, Onion Stew
Wine Pairing: 2012 Nauert-Gnagy Pinot Gris
main course
Veal Loin, Pretzel-Crust, Mustard Brussels Sprouts
Wine Pairing: 2012 Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoss-Altenahr XII Trauben Pinot Noir
dessert
Black Forest Torte, Kirsch Ganache, Luxardo Gourmet Cherries
Wine Pairing: 2012 Winzergenossenchaft Mayschoss-Altenahr Monchberg Vineyard Sweet Pinot Noir
coffee
The German Wine Culture: Dry or Sweet or Both?
Terry Theise, in his most recent catalogue (Vintage 2014), addresses the issue of the German wine culture: Is it a dry wine culture or a sweet wine culture or both. Let me quote Terry Theise.
Terry Theise: … What I myself see, from the growers I visit and the restaurants I go to, and the stories I am told, Germany is not only a dry-wine culture, it is militantly and obsessively so. How many letters have I gotten from travelers to Germany who were promptly dismayed to find the utter hegemony of the Trocken style? I did not set these people up. They saw what I see. And what we see gives cause for grave concerns. The wines we love are threatened. … If you were dropped from the sky and landed in Germany you would conclude it is a dry wine culture.
Outside of Germany it is a not-dry wine culture, because we in other countries can perhaps see with greater perspective that the not-dry German Rieslings are a singular and precious gift to the world and to the cause of beauty.
… So the answer to the question, in truth is: It is both a sweet and a dry wine culture, but not if the Germans themselves have anything to say about it. Other than a few token dessert-wines they would just as soon see the sweet wines go extinct.
In an earlier article “Can American Fans Save German Riesling” (Slate, October 19, 2011), Mike Steinberger argued similarly: … But in the 1970s and ’80s, German drinkers soured on sweetish Rieslings. It was during this period that Germany saw a proliferation of French-influenced restaurants, and consumers demanded dry wines. … Meanwhile, domestic demand for fruity Rieslings has effectively collapsed; German palates have been completely reoriented, and Rieslings with pronounced residual sugar are now outcasts in their own neighborhood. … The fruity style now is being kept alive, barely, by foreign consumers, and Americans in particular, which is another ironic twist to this story. … Theise told me that the only reason most of his producers continue to make sweetish Rieslings is because he keeps buying them—if he were to stop tomorrow, they would very likely cease production of these wines and turn out nothing but trocken bottlings.
schiller-wine: Related Postings
Germany-East Wine and Art Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Germany-South Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Germany-North Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2015)
Announcement: 5 Exciting ombiasy WineTours in 2016 - BURGUNDY BORDEAUX GERMANY
Phil Bernstein of MacArthur Beverages Presents the new Vintage (2014) to the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter), USA/ Germany
Wine Tasting at Weingut Weegmüller with Stephanie and Gabriele Weegmüller – Germany-South Tour by ombiasy WineTours (2014)
At Weingut Matthias Müller, Mittelrhein, with Traubenhaus, their US-Importer, Germany