Anne Krebiehl for The Drinks Business Hong Kong ... - AnneInVino

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Germany’s Ahr Valley

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german pinot noir
THE SECRET’S
out
The exceptional quality of recent vintages has finally alerted the rest of the
world to top German Pinot Noir, writes Anne Krebiehl
IT’S CURIOUS when new things happen
in the Old World – the emergence of a
notable indigenous variety or rediscovery
of a forgotten region – we subtly adjust
our ideas and wonder why nobody had
clocked earlier what was hidden in plain
sight. Yet when the novelty concerns the
holy grail of Pinot Noir we are sceptical.
When it turns out to be German – namely
Spätburgunder – we are incredulous.
“Our customers are first surprised that
Germany can produce red wines and then
impressed by the quality level reached,”
explains Claudia Pech, founder of
German Wine Agencies, a London-based
specialist importer. Indeed, it still comes
as a surprise to most that Germany
became the world’s third-largest producer
Whenever we show
Spätburgunder, clients are
overwhelmed and not afraid to
spend £50 on a bottle
of Pinot Noir in 2006, after France and the
US. While Germany’s Pinot Noir
connection goes all the way back to a
great-grandson of Charlemagne and
various medieval monastic settlements,
fine German Pinot Noir really is a new
thing in the Old World. According to
Georg Mauer, director of Wein & Glas, a
leading Berlin-based retailer and
wholesaler, top-end German Pinot Noir
only hit the domestic market 10 to 15
years ago. From tentative beginnings in
the 1980s when large parts of the German
wine industry were at their lowest ebb, a
new generation of highly trained,
ambitious winemakers with international
outlook and experience revolutionised
Germany as a wine country. Their revival
of historic sites and traditional
German varieties, above all
Riesling and Spätburgunder,
and not least a new kind of
self-confidence means that
Germans themselves once
again rejoice in their own
wines: Riesling is now at the
very top of its game and
Spätburgunder is rapidly
catching up.
Feature findings
4 Top-end German Pinot Noirs only
hit the market 10-15 years ago, but
with a new generation of skilled
winemakers Spätburgunder is now
hot on the heels of Riesling.
4 Despite prices of up to e120
(HK$1,217) per bottle, top wines
regularly sell out, although there is
no secondary market yet.
4 Merchants, and collectors of
Bordeaux and Burgundy, are seeing
Spätburgunder as a quality
alternative to pricey Burgundy.
4 Availability of top German Pinot
Noirs is a problem as very few are
exported, as is the impenetrability
of German labels.
4 Although not given Parker ratings,
most of the top Pinots can benefit
from the VDP’s stringent “Grosses
Gewächs” (GG) classification.
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german pinot noir
COMING OF AGE
It seemed odd that in a climate so similar
to Burgundy, on often ancient vineyards
of limestone, slate, volcanic rock,
sandstone and loess, Spätburgunder –
Germany’s moniker for Pinot Noir –
should be so very different from its
admired French brother. Spätburgunderdominated
regions like Ahr and Baden
routinely thermo-vinified most of their
Pinot Noir into fruit-driven, light red for
regional consumption. In the 1980s some
pioneers set to work and a whole
number of factors coincided: immense
viticultural progress combined with
climate change meant ripe, red grapes;
an uncompromising drive for quality
meant drastically reduced yields;
training, international outlook and
experience meant new red-wine
expertise in a predominantly white wine
producing country. Domestic demand for
red wines meant the doubling of
Spätburgunder plantings from 1990 to
2010. The development of looseclustered,
small-berried German clones
released in 1999 to rival French clones
and planted by ambitious growers who
56
Spätburgunder: top regions and producers Source: Anne Krebiehl
The regions Top producers Who to watch
Ahr: a narrow, northerly slate ravine along the Weingut Meyer-Näkel Weingut Deutzerhof
river Ahr with an amazing meso-climate Weingut Jean Stodden Weingut JJ Adeneuer
Baden: Germany’s warmest, sunniest and most southerly Weingut Bernhard Huber Weingut Bercher
region with volcanic, loess and limestone soils Weingut Dr Heger Weingut Ziereisen
Weingut Franz Keller Schwarzer Adler
Weingut Salwey
Weingut Karl H Johner
Weingut Reinhold & Cornelia Schneider
Pfalz: protected, warm and sunny region with a huge Weingut Knipser Johannishof Weingut A Christmann
mix of soils – limestone, sandstone, red slate and loess Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz Weingut Philipp Kuhn
Weingut Friedrich Becker Weingut Dr Wehrheim
Franken (Franconia): sandstone and clay Weingut Rudolf Fürst
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer: steep slate sites Weingut Markus Molitor
Rheingau: mica schist and slate Weingut August Kesseler
Württemberg: southerly region with marl and gypsum soils Weingut Schaitmann
Weingut Dautel
Rheinhessen: numerous limestone and slate soils Weingut Keller
Winzerhof Thörle
also tended their own massal selections
was crucial; as was a complete mental
shift from quality to quantity: rather than
grubbing up 1950s high-yield clones as
their productivity waned, growers
preserved these vines, which now yield
concentrated fruit with a uniquely
German savouriness, reminiscent of
lovage and bay.
By the turn of the millennium, it
became acceptable, even cool, for
Germans to drink Spätburgunder. While
the wines initially flirted with too much
extraction and over-oaking, they have
now come of age. With 11,756 hectares of
Pinot Noir planted (more than Australia
and New Zealand combined), it’s only
natural that there should be a growing,
exciting, ambitious and distinctive fine
Spätburgunder segment and some
exceptional wines.
Despite prices between e40 (HK$405)
and e120 per bottle, the top wines
regularly sell out – at the cellar door, in
retail and in the on-trade. Mauer
explains: “These are small vineyard
parcels, labour is intense and production
structures are similar to Burgundy and
Piedmont; prices are justified.” While
Spätburgunder has improved immensely
across the board, Mauer also stresses that
this is only true for a handful of top
producers with limited output. Their
wines, however, are sought after.
“Increasingly [wine] collections are built
up which are no longer purely French,”
says Mauer. However, there is no
secondary market for these wines yet,
says Michael Unger, partner at
auctioneer Koppe & Partner: presently
Spätburgunder is bought to be drunk.
Internationally, news of this new Pinot
Noir from the Old World is slowly
filtering through. “People are a bit
confused about what ‘Spätburgunder’
means, but the more informed merchants
have seen that these [wines] have a

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terrific standing,” says Nigel Blundell, at
UK importer ABS Wine Agencies. Iris
Ellmann, managing director of Wine Barn,
a UK-based German specialist, says:
“Whenever we show Spätburgunder,
clients are overwhelmed and not afraid to
spend £50 [HK$624] on a bottle.” In her
experience, Spätburgunder finds favour
There are some amazingly
good quality wines, easily
comparable to Burgundies,
but not necessarily at such
high prices
with younger collectors of Burgundy and
Bordeaux. “This is exciting because these
people know their wines, have fantastic
cellars but want to try something new
that is not just a trend,” she explains.
Even blue-chip UK vintners Berry
Brothers & Rudd have added three
Spätburgunders to their list. German
buyer David Berry Green is cautious: “We
are looking to reflect what’s going on in
the fine wine market without
overcommitting ourselves at this stage.”
His doubts concern pricing, but he
concedes: “People who are really
passionate about Pinot Noir will
be interested in what Germany is
doing; when they see the prices
they’ll take a deep breath.”
London Burgundy specialists
Goedhuis & Co earlier this year
offered and sold out their first
Spätburgunder parcel. “We’ve
been exposed to really lovely
top-end single vineyard
Riesling,” recounts Julian
Chamberlen, sales director, “and
along comes something that is
very close to our hearts in the
form of Pinot Noir that was incredibly
impressive.” After a good review from
Jancis Robinson MW in summer 2012,
Pech’s tiny allocation of “garagiste”
Spätburgunder from Enderle & Moll was
completely oversubscribed.
Ahr Valley vineyards
GENUINE ALTERNATIVE
For Gareth Birchley, buyer at Bordeaux
Index in London, which recently took on
Spätburgunder, reactions have been
“pretty good, people are very keen to try
and those who have tried have been
incredibly impressed”. He sees
Spätburgunder as a quality alterative to
ever more pricey Burgundy. Asian
merchants have been thinking along the
same lines.
Mike Convey, of Abbelio Wines, a Hong
Kong online merchant stocking
Spätburgunder since early 2012, explains:
“We try to find niches for wines which
aren’t normally very popular but which
we believe are worthwhile.” Of
Spätburgunder, he says: “There are some
amazingly good quality wines, easily
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german pinot noir
comparable to Burgundies, but not
necessarily at such high prices. It’s not
cheap but that doesn’t mean it’s not good
value.” André Kok, managing director of
Hong Kong-based McGavin and Kok
Fine Wine & Spirits, agrees: “The climate
in Hong Kong is changing. It’s only going
to take a little time for people to be
comfortable with wines from around the
world, so we decided to take on German
wines. They’ve long been overlooked;
Pinot Noir from Germany is probably
one of the most underrated wines in the
world.” For the time being, though, he
observes: “German sales are so focused
on Riesling, Pinot Noir still flies under
the radar.”
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Pinot Noir: plantings
throughout the world
Vineyard Share
area (%)
(hectares)
France 30,659 35.4
US 21,037 24.3
(California,
Oregon,
Washington)
Germany 11,756 13.6
Australia 5,061 5.8
New Zealand 4,828 5.6
Switzerland 4,352 5.0
Italy 3,300 3.8
Chile 2,130 2.5
Argentina 1.681 1.9
South Africa 962 1.1
Austria 649 0.8
Luxembourg 102 0.1
TOTAL 86,517 100
Source: Deutscher Wein Statistik 2012/2013 –
German Wine Institute, Mainz
German wines have long been
overlooked; Pinot Noir from
Germany is probably one of
the most underrated wines in
the world
The US picture is similar. Rudi Wiest,
veteran importer and founder of Rudi
Wiest Selections, thinks that many
merchants don‘t even know how good
Spätburgunder wines are. The progress of
the last 10 to 15 years has been
incredible.” He supplies, among others,
Crush Wine Co in New York City, which
has been selling Spätburgunder since
2007. Buyer Joe Salamone says
Spätburgunder appeals to Riesling lovers
and those “experienced with Burgundy”.
He explains: “They look at adding
another small dimension to a collection,
but their primary focus is elsewhere.”
Nonetheless, Salamone is convinced that
“Spätburgunders have a very high level
of quality and have something to say
about Pinot Noir”.
HARD TO GET HOLD OF
Among the drawbacks – apart from the
prices – for top German Pinots is their
limited availability. There is no enprimeur
mechanism but a strong tradition
of direct-to-client ex-cellar sales. Many
top wines thus disappear straight into the
cellars of German collectors. The VDP,
Germany’s association of top wine
estates, states a direct sales ratio of 50%
among its members. However, Pascal
Dautel, of DeutschweinClassics, the
German-wine-division of giant
distributor WeinWolf, reckons that the
ratio is usually 40-70%, with 20-30%
earmarked for German merchant
distribution, which leaves only a
tiny amount for export. Steffen
Christmann, chairman of the
VDP, is certain that direct-toclient
sales will decrease while
export becomes more important.
The much-cursed impenetrability
of German labelling has been
addressed: most Spätburgunder
labels are clear-cut and often
proclaim “Pinot Noir”.
Neither have the top wines
attracted American-style scores.
Unger thinks “scores are a tool
and Germany still has to catch up on
that”. Ellmann believes Parker ratings
would really help. However, most of the
top Pinot producers are VDP members
and can thus benefit from the VDP’s own
stringent “Grosses Gewächs” (GG)
classification. GG set a new standard for
Riesling and as recently as 2003 the first
Spätburgunder GGs of the 2000 vintage
came out. For Mauer, this classification
has been a “remarkable success story”
since it brought “Pinots from very
particular single sites into focus”. For
Boon Heng, of Wein & Vin in Singapore,
the VDP itself is “a seal of quality. When
it comes to GG we tell customers that it’s
like a grand cru but even stricter: the sites
are classified, the wines are tasted by
judging panels”. Ellmann pragmatically
states: “Even if you don’t know the ins
and outs of Germany you can be sure
that it’s a top wine.” Wiest echoes this:
“The difference between Germany and
Burgundy is that you have to pay for a
grand cru regardless of quality, in
Germany when you buy GG, you get
great wine.”
Even if top Spätburgunder for now still
occupies a niche, with increasing vine age
and constantly improving skill, it is set to
play a much bigger role in fine wine
markets. As an Old World wine, it comes
with a whole lot of history and offers
intriguing facets of Pinot Noir, from steep
Ahr slate, Pfalz limestone, Baden basalt
or Franconian sandstone. This of course
means that there is no one, overarching
Spätburgunder style. For Christmann this
is what makes it exciting: “Consumers
who move within the very top of Pinot
Noir are explicitly looking for such
individuality and variety.” The parallels
with Burgundy are all too evident: a
fragmented producer base, varying
styles, vintage variation and limited
output. Hence, just as in Burgundy the
motto must be caveat emptor: know your
producer and give the wines time in the
cellar. They age beautifully, even if
nobody can yet stage a 30-year-vertical.
Two great vintages – an opulent 2009 and
a concentrated 2010 – have lifted the lid
on what used to be a purely German cult.
Now that the secret is out, they won’t be
able to keep Spätburgunder to
themselves anymore and that elusive
Pinot-epiphany will occasionally come
with an umlaut. db