The view south from Kastanienbusch Vineyard

Weingut Okonomierat Rebholz has been making wine for three generations and is currently run by Hansjorg Rebholz and his wife Brigit.  The weingut is a welcoming place and the owners, staff and the dog are very warm (people).  Rebholz is best known for its dry style of whites, the rieslings, about 35% of production, chardonnay and weissburgunder.  But they also make distinctive gewurztraminer from their oldest vineyard as well as grauerburgunder and muskateller.  About 25% of production is in spatburgunder.  Rebholz wines are about intensity of flavor stemming from …

Warmth in climate and hospitality show through in the wines of the Pfalz.  When we visited Weingut Messmer, we met with Gregor who runs the estate, but his PR man, father Herbert, dropped in to greet us.  Messmer’s flagship wines are the dry rieslings, grauerburgunder and weissburgunder, a little bit of fine gewurtztraminer and muskateller, and spatburgunder.  The whites range from everyday wines to “cru” Erste Lage from Michelsberg vineyard, Schawer and Goldener Jost, but they are all driven by purity of flavors.  This starts in the vineyard, where Gregor has moved from the common …

The benchmark pinot gris/grigio are from Alsace, Oregon and northeast Italy.  Pinot gris is a pale golden colored, medium-full bodied wine with peach and spice flavors.  The pinot grigio from Italy tends to be a much lighter, crisper style while Alsace pinot gris has the rich, full-bodied and oily style of a warm, dry region.  Oregon falls inbetween, with a fresh, fruit-driven character. 
Germany’s Pfalz region has a similar terroir to Alsace but is about 150 km (90 miles) to the north – and in Europe, small distances make a lot of difference.  The …

German producers have been adapting to market demand – both domestic and export – to drier styles of rieslings of less than 9 grams/liter residual sugar. From about 16% of production in 1985 to about 37% today, dry styles of riesling are definitely in vogue.  Of the 20% of high-quality VDP wines exported, 50% are dry styles. One of the more famous regions for dry rieslings is the Rheingau, but historically, many of the warmer, southern regions such as the Pfalz or Baden have the ability to produce balanced, dry …

The current Fall 2009 special edition of Wine & Spirits Magazine features a story on “Best Land to Grab” highlighting five lesser known areas that have potential to grow fine wine grapes, from England’s limestone coast to the Istria Peninsula in the Adriatic.  But what about investing in a classic wine region that produces world benchmark rieslings?  That would be the Mosel wine region in Germany.  The production costs are high, but the vineyard land is cheap.
Production costs are high due to the steep vineyard slopes of the Mosel some …

If you are deciding which classic wine region to visit next, Germany is a great choice.  The major wine regions in Germany are clustered in the West/Southwest within a two-hour’s drive of Frankfurt International Airport (FRA).  Bernkastel in the Mosel wine region is about 85 miles to the west; Rudesheim in the Rheingau is only 30 miles or so to the south and the Pfalz is about 75 miles away.   Other pluses, many Germans speak English and the highways are modern and fast.
The world-class wines to taste are the white rieslings, which can range …