20213041_WGDE2021_ENGL

BADEN | A PORTRAIT OF THE REGION
Photos: Mauritius Images/Travel Collection/Georg Knoll, provided
variety by Weingut Höfflin in the subregion
of Kaiserstuhl and Martin Wassmer’s
Syrah from Markgräflerland.
The classics are represented by a
Blaufränkisch ‘Dicker Franz’ by Burg
Ravensburg in the subregion of Kraichgau.
Here you need to know that Lemberger,
aka Blaufränkisch, has long been at home
in the easterly Kraichgau from whence
you are literally in viewing distance of the
variety’s heartland of Württemberg. The
same can of course be said for Riesling in
the Ortenau subregion. It is represented in
these top-scoring wines by the Varnhalter
Klosterbergfelsen by Weingut Nägelsförst.
Continuing with Riesling: The 92-point
group has four Rieslings, three of which
hail from Ortenau: “Georg Arbogast” by
Freiherr zu Franckenstein, “Klingelberger
K” by Markgraf von Baden and
“Terrassenlage” by Weingut Kopp. This
quartet is made complete by the climate
change beneficiary “Meersburg Rieschen”
by Staatsweingut Meersburg on Lake
Constance.
Furthermore, we can count three Traminers
or Gewürztraminers: one from Markgräflerland
(Weingut Rieger), one from
Konrad and Monika Schlör – Weingut Schlör
Julius and Matthias Höfflin in their cellar
Kaiserstuhl (Höfflin, made as an orange
wine), one from Bodensee (Staatsweingut
Meersburg). Then there are three Gutedel
wines from Markgräflerland, two from
Weingut Blankenhorn (»Courage« and
»Le Clocher«) as well as the orange
wine “El Fayoum“ by Claus Schneider.
There are two Müller-Thurgaus (namely
“Belemnit Wildfang“ by Berthold Clauss/
Bodensee and a skin-fermented version
from Weingut Höfflin/Kaiserstuhl). There
are two Muskatellers (Bercher/Kaiserstuhl
and Wöhrle/Breisgau), one Sauvignon
(Schlumberger-Bernhart/Markgräflerland)
and last but certainly not least a field blend
(WeingutTrautwein/Kaiserstuhl).
In fairness, we should also count
Schwarzriesling (aka Pinot Meunier)
among the varieties that don’t represent
Baden’s Pinot-mainstream, even if this
variety is of course part of the Pinot family.
But another Baden subregion is staking
its claims for this variety: the Taubertal
(Tauber Valley). Three wines with a
score of 92 bear eloquent witness: one
by Konrad Schlör, two from Becksteiner
Winzer.
You could now easily point out that just
25 wines of the top-scoring 200 are not
made from Pinot-varieties or Chardonnay:
57