James Beard Award-winning author and Wine Communicator of the Year. The wine is great by itself as a refreshing aperitif or with a wide range of seafood. “An Auslese and Lobster?” I asked. Riesling is Germany’s most important grape but there are some other fascinating esoteric whites to know. Most people only know it for its production of Riesling, or its mass-market production of semi-sweet wines such as Liebfraumilch.Stereotypes can stem from the truth but often blanket a wealth of idiosyncrasies that comprise a culture (or, in this case, wine), and which rarely integrate any progression or evolution. The best examples balance unctuous peach-like sweetness with crunchy green phenolic bitterness (that is sometimes reminiscent of rhubarb). It’s a pleaser in every way and my go-to wine for spicy food pairings. There are a lot of great producers out there and many utilize multiple vineyards. Filter by. White grape varieties. The same producer can make several Rieslings that are drastically different in style from one another, simply by using grapes from different vineyards. - Tony Connell, Personal Wine Consultant for Montesquieu Wines------------------------------------------------------, Visiting wine country? The wine director had the kitchen prepare a bite of the lobster and poured a taste of the wine. Other white grape varieties, such as Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay, are playing an increasing role. German wine has received some mixed reviews internationally. With 66.9% of Germany’s vineyards dedicated to producing knock-out white wine, and 11.5% to Pinot Noir, it’s never been a more exciting time for German wine production. We’ve talked about it before, but now is the perfect time to start looking for the 2015 vintage in Germany. I am going to recommend a wine that is both reasonable in price and not hard to find. - Cezar Kusik, Fine Wine Specialist, Fourcade & Hecht Wine Selections, ------------------------------------------------------, There are a lot of great wines being made in Germany, both red and white. Riesling remains Germany's most important grape variety, with a quarter of the vineyard total planted with it. Silvaner has both peachy and passion fruit flavors along with an herbaceous thyme-like note, not unlike Grüner Veltliner. This white German wine can be made in both a sweet and dry variety but producers tend to make most of the wine in a sweet version. And Germany certainly was well known for fine wine: in the 19th century, German “Hock” sold for higher prices than first growth Bordeaux. Same day delivery. After a quick search on Wine-Searcher of for both Rheinhessen and Franken, we were delighted to see many options under $20. An indication of dryness in a German wine is the word “kabinett.” Made from riesling grapes that are mature and harvested early in the growing season, the result is a dry wine with more acid than fruit and a lower alcohol content. Product tags. My husband and friends clamber down and inhale the clean air. Visiting wine country? In my opinion, however, my favorite wines are the ones labeled Spatlese. As it happens, there are a few spots in Germany that make yummy examples: Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder (Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc) seem to be delightfully more floral and stone-fruit-driven in Germany than compared to Italian Pinot Grigio and Pinot Bianco. The juice from the red Pinot Noir grapes is pressed out and fermented without the skins into white wine. Why spend $250 per day in tasting fees when you can get the wine pass and pay less then half of that? - Loren Sonkin is an IntoWine.com Featured Contributor and the Founder/Winemaker at Sonkin Cellars. Kabinett. Riesling can also be made in a range of styles depending on the sugar levels of the grapes, from dry to very, very sweet. Producers like Hans Wirsching tend to use the traditional bocksbeutel bottle, a squat green flask-like bottle that's named in reference to the, ahem, private parts of the goat. German Wine. Get the Wine 101 Guide free when you subscribe to the free Wine Folly newsletter. Deftly, she opens a bottle and pours 2006 Leimener Kreuzweg Auxerrois dry Kabinett into our glasses. Dramatic. Buy a Priority Wine Pass today to receive Complimentary and discounted tastings. German White Wines. Between the two varieties, German Pinot Blanc often lacks complexity when compared side-by-side to Germany Pinot Gris, which offers oodles of unctuous peachy texture from the color development in the Pinot Gris’ skins. IntoWine.com posed this question to a panel of wine experts: What's the one German white wine you'd recommend seeking out? It was a moment in my palate’s history that will live for a very long time. Silvaner is definitely one of Germany’s great undiscovered white wines.