Our road trip through Germany
In September, our resident gang of self-confessed wine geeks descended en-masse for a 3-day whirlwind tour, travelling from the meandering Mosel to the edge of the Black Forest and back, dropping in to say 'hi' to some fantastic producers along the way. Jamie Barrow, Bibendum Educator, tells us more.
The Mosel - Markus Molitor
So where to start? Well, it had to be with Riesling, the great grape of Germany. And if we’re looking for great Riesling, there’s no better place to find it than at Markus Molitor in the middle Mosel. Situated a stone’s throw from the picturesque tourist destination of Bernkastel, Molitor have been making wine for eight generations. In 1984 they set out to reproduce the glorious wines of 100 years ago, and relocated to the centre of their Wehlener Klosterberg site, setting up shop in what was a dilapidated old winery (which has since been renovated beautifully).
Molitor’s winemaking philosophy is simple: the hard work happens in the vineyard, not the cellar. This is an approach that truly emphasises the importance of terroir, particularly with an estate that produces 60+ different wines a year, over 15 sites and 100 hectares. Speaking of hard work, terrain is a factor too, given that some of Molitor’s slopes can reach an 80% incline and require up to 2000 hours of hand harvesting labour per hectare!
The scale of the operation is impressive, but there are no shortcuts taken in the life cycle of Molitor’s wines. Industrial yeasts are a big no-no, and so fermentation is left to happen spontaneously. The wines generally enjoy a period of skin contact, with some musts left for 24 hours to develop nuances of texture and complexity. Oxidation is a friend here, adding a level of stability beyond anything I believed possible. Some of the sample wines brought to us had been opened and kept in the fridge for months prior to our arrival!
We tasted a dazzling array of wines over the course of a couple of hours. From my hasty scribblings I can count 26 separate tasting notes, but I know we sampled far more than this. Although we were in search of fine Riesling, the Pinot Blanc on offer here is worthy of a mention. I particularly enjoyed our first wine of the tasting: the 'entry-level' Haus Klosterberg, which was delightfully fresh and aromatic, and had a lovely textural quality from some time spent in oak. Of the myriad Rieslings we sampled, I was blown away by the Urziger Wurzgarten Spatlese. The red slate soils of this site are iron-rich, imparting a spiciness and weight to wines that bounced really well off the taut acidity and residual sugar.
The Rheinhessen - Peth Wetz
The following day we travelled South and East to the Rheinhessen, where the dramatic riverside slopes were replaced with more gently undulating countryside. We were greeted by Christian and Maja Luise Peth at their discreet and charming winery, currently mid-way through its own renovation.
The shift in focus compared to Molitor was arresting, with non-native varieties being a real unique selling point for Peth Wetz. Christian came to appreciate bold, powerful and tannic styles of wine during his studies and apprenticeships in Chile, Australia, the USA and at Geisenheim University in Germany. Maja is similarly broad-minded due to her time spent in Luxembourg, Turkey and Florida. They have plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot as well as the more usual German suspects.
According to Christian, he has enjoyed great success within Germany with his Bordeaux and Burgundy varieties, although by contrast the export market still demands his Pinot Noir and Riesling above all others. The decision to produce international wines is explained simply by Christian: these are the wines he wants to make and enjoy, irrespective of consumer trends.
We started our tasting here with his 2011 Sekt Brut Nature - a blend of Pinot Blanc and Noir that spends five and a half years on its lees. Taut and precise fruit was in perfect balance with bready notes and integrated acidity from the lengthy ageing. So far so good! Next we sampled a Sauvignon Blanc, which had a lovely Bacchus-esque nose of hedgerow flowers and white pepper. At this point we were treated to our interesting fact of the day: Sauvignon has been grown historically in Germany under the name Muscat Sylvaner, which was news to all of us in the training team!
Although the Sauvignon was delicious, my favourite white wine on show was the 2017 unfiltered Riesling, which had distinctive camomile, lemon and almond on the nose and palate. The Bordeaux-style reds were also a revelation, being dense, brooding and chock full of spicy dark fruit and toasty oak nuances.
Baden - Weingut Kopp 
Our next destination was Weingut Kopp, on the edge of the Black Forest in Baden. In this area of Germany, Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) is king, accounting for around 70% of all vineyard plantings. But we had to wait to get our mitts on the luscious, cherry-scented reds for which the region is famous. Our first stop was to drink in the glorious views from the top of the Fegenwaldchen vineyard, glass of Sekt in hand. From this vantage point, and on a clear sunny day such as the one we were enjoying, Alsace is visible in the distance.
We were treated that evening to a marvellous spread of bread, cheeses and the obligatory cured meats to accompany our wine tasting. We started with a selection of Pinot Blancs, a real speciality of Weingut Kopp’s. Flavours ranged from supple and juicy citrus and stone fruit through to more weighty melon and pineapple character, but all were perfectly balanced against a backdrop of precise, refreshing acidity. We moved on to more experimental examples of Kopp’s portfolio, sampling a premium amphora-fermented Viognier that was oily, fragrant and powerful in equal measure. I fell in love with a Pinot Gris that undergoes enough skin contact to turn it a shade of luminescent salmon-pink. Finally we moved onto the Spatburgunders, which were every bit as silky, elegant and complex as we’d hoped. Quite rightly Kopp is regarded as one of the most exciting producers in Baden right now.
Nahe - Joh. Bapt. Schafer
Our final destination took us back North to Nahe, and family-run winery of Joh. Bapt. Shafer. They gained membership of the Association of German Pradikat Wine Estates (VDP) in 2014, becoming the first producer in Nahe for over a decade to do so.
We parked up next to a child-size plastic tractor; clearly they start cultivating the next generation of winemakers early on here! It was a busy time to be visiting, due to the heatwave summer of 2018 bringing forward harvesting dates a couple of weeks. This didn’t stop Sebastian Shafer from indulging us with a tour of his vineyards, which again benefit from the steeply-angled slopes that characterise many of Germany’s best sites. Bunches of Riesling grapes hung in various quantities along precipitous rows of vines, as Shafer’s pickers make multiple passes through each row to select the fruit at varying degrees of ripeness. Quality is hard-won here, and there are certainly no short-cuts taken.
Our tasting here was possibly the most academic of our trip, but every bit as enjoyable for a bunch of wine nerds such as us! The Pradikat system was revealed to us in all its logical glory, as we were able to taste wines from the same vineyards, in the same vintage, but with varying degrees of ripeness. For example the Pittermannchen Rieslings ranged from dry, lean and “mineralic” (a popular descriptor used by every one of our hosts over the 3 days), through to a luscious and tropical low-alcohol Spatlese. The interplay of sweetness and acidity was also fascinating, as we attempted to play “guess the sugar level” with many of the samples. Invariably we were miles off the pace, as the laser-like acid levels in the wines tempered tooth-jarring levels of sugar in the wine. This tasting was a masterclass in achieving balance, and the perfect end to an eye-opening visit to one of the greatest wine nations in the world.
Do you love German wine? Find out how Germany fared in the recent harvest here.
By Jamie Barrow
Jamie joined Bibendum in September last year, having spent a few years on the front lines of wine retail. Being based in the land of flat caps and whippets, North Yorkshire, he’s responsible for delivering training in the north of England and Scotland.