German wine is a changing (for the better)

Heerkretz in the Rheinhessen

German wine has come a long way since I started in the wine biz, oh so many years ago. But, now I believe we are at a point of major change in the export market for German wines. Specifically, I believe that we are seeing a shift from sales of predominantly sweet wines (kabinett, spatlese and auslese) to dry (trocken) and off dry wines (halbtrocken and feinberb).

I've been traveling to Germany since 2006 and have made a fair number of friends who are German winemakers.  Due to the miracle of Facebook, I'm in continuous contact with a fair number of them.  One thing that most, if not all German producers tell me, is that they want to sell more wine to America. They have no problem selling dry wine in Germany because Germans love dry wine, and well it goes very well with all their cuisine. But increasingly, selling sweet pradikat wines to the German consumer is getting harder and harder. 

I was talking to a winemaker the other day and he said he just cannot sell sweet wines and that over the next 10-15 years he will shift most of his production to dry and feinherb. This was a Mosel producer, which is important as the Mosel has always been known for sweet wines (JJ Prum, Fritz Haag, Willi Schaefer, etc.).  

With the emergence of German dry wine in America over the past 4 or 5 years I see a shift happening. A shift for the positive I say, and in the long view a way for German producers to sell more more wine to America. Let's look at a few realities on the ground now.

It is hot on this Earth now. No denying it. Vineyards that once made cooling, crisp wines from the best exposures now are almost heat traps and oechsle levels are almost comical for even basic Kabinetten. These wines, as many Americans are familiar with, go well with spicy Asian cuisines. But it is less about food and wine matching and more of setting the heat off with the RS. I still do it every now and then, but the key phrase is every now and then. My palate has matured. I find the sugar covers up too much. Don't get me wrong, I love the fruity pradikat wines, but my beloved Kabinetten that turned me onto German wines are long gone and ancient history. It's very hard to drink Spatlese and Auslese every night. So, naturally, dry wines and feinherb wines fit the bill, and also, for my palate, really exhibit more terroir. 

Now, with the above knowledge let's look at how German wine has been marketed since, say the 90's, as that is when it really started to become a legit option for the American consumer as more and more estates were being exported. The sweet wines were the rage and barely any dry wines came into the US. There was a reason. They sucked. Dry wines just were not good as many did not know how to make them, and they had no trouble really selling fruity pradikat wines. Plus they were new, a fad if you will, and Americans were loving them, as this is a nation raised on Coke. 

If you look at the Mosel, for example, the combination of all that slate, those steep slopes and the Mosel river is a recipe for wonderful wines. Stefan Steinmetz's father in 1990 made a Spatlese from the Kestener Paulinsberg. It had over 12 grams of acid and only 36 grams of RS. I recently had a bottle again, and it was stunning. But if that wine were made today, the RS number would be huge and the wine, instead of being filigreed and racy, would be a novelty sweet wine. I've had this around 6 times. It's not overtly ponderous and I can have it with a huge range of cuisine. 

Most German Riesling since I have been in the game has been marketed as sweet wines you could drink all the time. While that may have been true in the past, I don't see that statement as true today. 8 out of 10 times I open a feinherb/trocken style wine with my lunch/dinner. On a geeky, cerebral level, the wines offer so much more. There is much more transparency of terroir. There is a fascinating chewy minerality and tons of filigree, even in the most basic wines. And they have gotten better. Much better. Of course I can cite examples of older trocken and feinherb wines that have been outstanding. A 1981 Immich Battieriberg Auslese Trocken comes to find that was fresh as a daisy in 2010. But that is the exception, rather than the rule. 

You also need to look at the history of the Mosel. Lars Carlberg, a friend and wine agent, does this exceptionally well on his brand new pay Mosel site, which is easily the most exciting new entry into the specialist sites in the tradition of Burghound and Champagne Guide, by Allen Meadow and Peter Liem respectively. The essential point about the history of the Mosel is that the tradition of the Mosel is dry and feinherb wines. But the Mosel wines had their moment in the states when those wines were not being made well and were not particularly popular. 1990's and 2001 being perhaps the vintage that got more consumers to pay attention to German Riesling and German wine in general. 

With global warming and the resultant emergence of new sites, which were actually old great sites that made dry wine, I think the future of German wine in America is dry and feinherb. These wines can be drunk with a wide range of food and there is no reason that you can't have them as often as you have chardonnay or chenin blanc.  While riesling certainly has a different flavor profile than those grapes, good winemakers can produce high quality, fruity, interesting wines at very competitive prices.  Because there are a range of styles, you can have them as often as you like without getting bored (much as chardonnay lovers switch between say a mineral driven chablis and a fruity chardonnay from the Macon).

There are a group of vocal people out there who believe it's fruity or bust and that is a disservice to the whole of German wine tradition and ultimately to these producers bottom lines. 

In 10-15 years we could see a whole new picture of German wine, and specifically in the Mosel, with the sweet wines being more of a novelty item like Sauternes, Quarts de Chaume, etc and the dry and feinherb wines taking front stage. It is not just a matter of taste, but a matter of economics. The export market for sweet wines is not as healthy as it once was as the world economy is in the crapper. Germany is still relatively strong economically but they cannot continue to make wine that they cannot sell domestically. It makes no sense for them. Add in the climate change and how much easier it is to make dry wines, it's a recipe for a change. And at the end of the day Germany will have combined all the great wines she makes into a legitimate engine. The things that should be unique specialties should be the norm and vice versa. Of course if there is some sudden, drastic change in climate or a unique Kabinett vintage comes along that harkens 2008, 1996, even 2001, then I'm all for a butt ton of Kabinettenn. There will always be traditionalists like JJ Prum and Egon Muller who are famous for making only pradikat wines, and that is fine. For now. It could change. And at JJ Prum they make a stupendous feinherb. Ya never know.