It was a sunny June afternoon in 2011, and I was pulling into Weingut Wagner-Stempel’s resplendent courtyard for the first time. My future friend, Oliver Müller, was busy pouring wine samples to a number of guests who enjoyed their sips under the merciful shade of a 300-year-old chestnut tree. I introduced myself and I’ll never forget the bewildered expression on Oliver’s face when I told him that I had come from Canada in search of Riesling.
Rüdesheim Awakens
It seems that I'm the first human to stir. Disoriented by jetlag and fuelled by excitement, I give up on sleep long before the day dawns. After the final nocturnal trains, there's a depth of silence when one can hear the vines exhaling as they, too, enjoy the stillness. Before long, gleeful birdsong begins to pierce the expiring darkness. I tie my shoes and leave the hotel by the side door.
Schätzel - Mad Scientist Trocken
One of the most exciting things about tasting through any wine region is hearing about different grower’s tactics to overcome challenges and usher beautiful wines into being. Despite the potentially enormous variation of strategies voiced, each proffered as if any other pursuit would result in abject failure, one can taste countless collections of compelling and delicious wines. However, nobody else that I know who's achieving such high levels of quality with Riesling is doing so through such idiosyncratic methods as Kai Schätzel.
2020 German Riesling: The Drinkle Report
One thing that humans the world over have learned in the last 18 months is that instead of getting excited about upcoming events, we should always be preparing our hearts for potential shattering. And yet, is that a reason to stop making plans? Perhaps it is. But encouraged by my wife who had noticed certain, um, irregularities in my personality, I booked flights to Germany with the intention of simply spending time alone in the most inspiring nature that I know of. That being said, I have friends in German wine country who I felt obligated to notify about my plans. Bit by bit, the schedule of my short trip became absolutely packed with visits to winegrowers, interspersed with Covid-19 tests. In other words, it became a trip consisting of immeasurably stimulating and fulfilling work—and Covid-19 tests. But I never allowed myself to believe that it was actually going to happen until I saw Frankfurt airport in the rearview mirror of my rental car.
Metrovino's German Riesling Manifesto
German Riesling is absolutely unprecedented in its versatility, and no other style of wine is great in so many different ways. Riesling succeeds on a vast continuum of sweetness, ranging from bone-dry to lusciously sweet, and every single step in between. And along each point of this continuum, perhaps excepting the very sweetest, one will find slim, willowy wines as well as those of great weight and richness, and all that lies betwixt. This is to say that any given vintage in Germany will produce wines that range from 6-14% alcohol, covering everything from gossamer delicacy to raw power.
