Romana Echensperger

For centuries, German vintners have made fantastic Riesling. Spätburgunder has been excellent for 25 years now. So, what’s next? Sekt has the potential to be the next big thing for German wine, but it still has a long road to travel.

Germany’s Sparkling Wine History

“There is, in fact, not a single wine establishment in all Champagne which is not under the control, more or less, of a native of Germany…

German Pinot Noir is a grotesque and ghastly wine that tastes akin to a defective, sweet, faded, diluted red Burgundy from an incompetent producer.
-Robert Parker, 2002.

Do you still have this picture in your mind when it comes to German Pinot Noir? Then it is time for an update, because even in 2002 our dear friend Mr. Robert Parker was out of date concerning German Pinot Noir.

The Spread of Spätburgunder

First of…

The 2012 Vintage (and Style) in Germany: The View from Mainzer Weinbörse

As a German, you taste the wines of the world in March during the Düsseldorf trade fair “ProWine," but you have the opportunity to taste the new domestic vintage at the end of April in Mainz, when the VDP presents their wines during the “Mainzer Weinbörse.” It makes sense, because the wines need time to develop anyway, and every added day after…

Wine is definitely a subject to fashion sense, too. Alsace is reminiscent of a 1970s lampshade you had forgotten for years in the attic but now you bring it up again with enthusiasm and dust it off.  When you start to grapple with Alsace, maybe you are like me, first consulting one of the hundreds of wine books that all of us have collected over the years working in the wine business. But the information on Alsace is quite…

The Germans are known to be anything but lazy. When dealing with wines from the Mosel region this “laziness doesn’t pay” develops different meanings. First of all, looking at the steep slopes and observing people climbing the vineyards to tip some shoots makes you realise that this area provides growers with only hard-earned bread. On the other hand, the tremendous diversity of styles and taste profiles of Mosel Riesling…