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Alsace 2022 Whites – A Lucky Escape
featured, France: Alsace
, Apr 2024
For the most part, vintage 2022 in Alsace was both warm and dry. The region was lucky to escape the extreme heat and drought that plagued much of the rest of France. Rain arrived, sometimes “in extremis,” and saved the crop from losses that could have been worse. Wineries harvested concentrated, luminous Riesling despite some hail, and producers made Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer in a range of styles, resulting in plush wines. Even Sylvaners exhibit uncommon fruitiness. Beyond vineyards and cellars, ongoing consolidation within Alsace’s already polarized wine industry is of increasing concern to independent growers. The latter value quality over quantity while the drive for quantity by ever bigger behemoths explains the sea of vineyards across the plains along the autoroute.
Evoe! German and Austrian Sekt Report
Germany, Austria, featured
, Mar 2024
The landscape of Austrian and German sparkling wine, or Sekt, has changed beyond recognition – at long last. What began with the heroic and often lone efforts of a handful of determined individuals in the 1970s and 1980s is finally in full fizz. It took decades of legal changes and challenges to create this new category, but even more so, it took years of cultural re-assessment to rehabilitate the historical term “Sekt”. Traditional method Sekt is now a serious, exciting and growing category in both countries. The ambition is palpable. This inaugural Sekt report covers bottle-fermented Sekts from Styria to the Weinviertel in Austria and Baden to Saxony in Germany. The revival was slow, but today, you can hear corks popping everywhere.
2022 Burgenland and Austria’s East – A Heaven for Unsung but Compelling Reds
Austria, featured
, Feb 2024
Austria’s central and eastern wine regions produced as much red wine as white. Tasting and thinking about the wines I encountered, it is clearer than ever to me that Blaufränkisch deserves a much wider audience. Moreover, it deserves to be planted far and wide in various corners of the globe. It is one of the last red sleepers out there. My estate visits in November 2023 yielded more tasting notes from the stunning 2021 vintage than from 2022. Because many wineries release wines with delay, this report also includes notes for a sizeable amount of 2020s, 2019s and 2018s – all of them current releases.
2022 Wachau and Lower Austria: An Overshadowed Vintage Worth Exploring
Austria, featured
, Feb 2024
Two thousand twenty-two in Austria is a vintage that had the misfortune of following a stellar year. With the spectacular 2021 vintage still fresh in producers’ memories, nobody was waxing lyrical about 2022. It is one of those years that will live in the shadows and eventually be quietly reassessed, especially since the combination of slightly more moderate alcohol levels, with not-quite-as-much stuffing provides surprising drinking pleasure. But, talking about stuffing, there is plenty of that in the best wines.
2022 Rheingau, Pfalz and Mittelrhein: Before, During and After the Rain
Germany, featured
, Dec 2023
After the unprecedentedly dry summer of 2022, heavy rain finally arrived in Rheingau and Pfalz. Sometimes, rain coincided with harvest, interrupted it or prompted some producers to wait it out. It is a mixed picture in which estates with exemplary farming and logistics triumphed. Some producers were helped by privileged, water-retentive sites or ventilated altitudes that prevented rot during and after the rain. This means general statements simply don’t apply in 2022 – but the vintage has some stunners nonetheless.
2022 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer: Old Vines and Steep Challenges
Germany, germany: Mosel, Germany: Saar, Germany: Ruwer, featured
, Oct 2023
Despite a hot and dry summer that brought record water deficits, the “challenging” Mosel vintage of 2022 delivered elegant wines. The best estates were able to make very good and even outstanding wines marked by moderate alcohol levels and freshness. This came down to three things: the resilience of deep-rooting old Riesling vines, the ingenuity of Riesling’s ability to self-regulate its metabolism and sorting at harvest.
2022 Rheinhessen & Nahe: Rain in the Nick of Time
Germany, featured
, Sep 2023
Relief and surprise were the primary emotions for winemakers across Rheinhessen and Nahe for the 2022 vintage, the driest and sunniest year since records began in 1881. Many expected opulence in their wines. Then rain arrived just in time. The relative slenderness of the wines and their moderate alcohol levels, however, are down to Riesling’s ingenious ability to self-regulate.
Markus Molitor Debuts Inaugural Rieslings from Domäne Serrig
Germany, featured
, Sep 2023
After having purchased the former royal Prussian state domain in the Saar Valley in 2016, German winemaker and Riesling supremo Markus Molitor now debuts the first two wines from the historic Serriger Vogelsang vineyard and the Domäne Serrig label: one dry Riesling, one Kabinett.
Germany Pre-Auctions Report: Trier and Bad Kreuznach
Germany, featured
, Sep 2023
The VDP’s two regional auctions in Trier and Bad Kreuznach in September are key dates for Riesling collectors. I was invited to attend pre-auction tastings held by the producers over the summer ahead of the auctions themselves. This article explains how these auctions work, but far more detail on the vintage and wineries will be in the respective regional reports covering Rheinhessen & Nahe and Mosel, Saar & Ruwer.
Cellar Favorite: Famille Hugel - The 2015 Riesling Séléctions de Grains Nobles S and 2014 Riesling Grossi Laüe
Cellar Favorites, cellar favorite, France: Alsace
, Jul 2023
Jean-Frédéric Hugel paid a brief visit to London to launch a brace of late-release Rieslings. One from the 2014 vintage, from their top site Grand Cru Schoenenbourg. While the 2015 has already been released, this is the first vintage in which Hugel finally uses the grand cru designation rather than their Alsatian dialect term Grossi Laüe.