Ever since the coronation of Hanoverian King George I in 1714 and Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840, the United Kingdom has enjoyed a familial yet complicated relationship with Germany that is often difficult to understand. The same can be said about its relationship to German wines. Although many of their rieslings and pinot noirs are among the best in the world, we don’t drink nearly as much German wine as we should. Since many of us had adolescent experiences with Liebfraumilch that left us forever scarred, the average consumer is overwhelmed and at worst horrified by the concept of wines from Germany.
In August, the German Wine Institute rolled out Wines of Germany, a project emphasising the distinctive features of its wine regions. They could have chosen an easier way, but not without compromising the glorious diversity of the various producers. Germany is known for its intellectuals - and the Germans take a similarly high brow approach to their wines. The Pradikat grading system, which signposts the level of ripeness and sweetness in a wine, can be daunting to get your head around.
Some say we should make the landscape simpler by focusing on a particular concept, as New Zealand did with sauvignon blanc, or Chile with carmenere. But rather than dumb everything down, why not accept that it’s a complex area and ask for advice from the sommeliers and wine merchants who are there to assist you? If you want to buy a house or hire a solicitor, you go to the experts, after all.Some of the most interesting British merchants, such as The Winebarn in Hampshire and London’s The Winery in Maida Vale, specialise in German wines. Jan Konetzki, head sommelier at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, was raised in Lüneberg, Germany, and his WineMeister app is making big waves in Germany and will soon be arriving on our shores.
The irony is that earlier this year at the Prowein international wine fair in Dusseldorf, German sommeliers and wine merchants wereextremely enthusiastic about English wine. Winemaker Sam Linter from Bolney Estate in West Sussex has just starting selling Blanc de Blancs 2010 (bolneywineestate.com) in Germany to great acclaim. They are supporting our developing wine industry: surely in return we can support theirs, especially as its one of the greatest and most diverse in the entire world?
2012 Black Slate Riesling QbA Dry £13.45, thewinebarn.co.uk
STEPP Riesling *S* Kallstadter Saumagen £14.99, marksandspencer.com
2012 Axel Pauly Helden Riesling Trocken £19.95, slurp.co.uk
2011 Dreissigacker Wunderwerk Spatburgunder £27.50, finewinecompany.co.uk
Christian Holthausen is a Franco-American wine specialist living in London. Twitter:@bosiechampagne
