RHEINHESSEN
From the
ashes of Liebfraumilch rises the twin-headed Phoenix of dry Riesling and Pinot
Noir! The flat, fertile landscape of Rheinhessen is where it all went south for
German wine. In the 60s, when the market for wine started in earnest, they
said, "you want lots of sweet wine for not much money? We can do
that." Decades later, the image of German wine is shaking off Blue Nun and
Black Tower and Goldene Oktober.
Battenfeld-Spanier (Hohen-Sulzen) ORGANIC
We
hammered down the Autobahn into the Wonnegau, the deepest darkest south-eastern
corner of Rheinhessen. Until recently this was the least-favoured spot in
Germany's least-favoured wine region. Now it is alive with hot-blooded,
hot-headed young men. We already know Stefan Winter, Jochen Dreissigacker and
Klaus-Peter Keller. Now here's Hans-Oliver Spanier, the young owner of
Battenfeld-Spanier who makes succulent modern dry Rieslings, stylish Sekt and
Gruner Silvaner, the local speciality. Why is there a pram on his chimney?
"Some mates of mine put it up there when I got married and I haven't
figured out how to get it down yet!"
Becker-Landgraf (Gau-Odernheim)
This was another tip from
Ursula Heinzelmann. Great Pinot from Rheinhessen? Do our ears deceive us? Our
mouths say yes!
When Johannes
Becker and Julia Landgraf married, they combined their respective family
wineries and determined to make top-class, cool-climate, dry Riesling and silky
Pinot Noir, slap bang in the rural centre of the region. They have already
outgrown the basement below their house where they scuttle around with bended
heads, checking their gleaming tanks and a handful of barrels. JuliaÕs Dad has
a business making stainless steel tanks. When we rocked-up, they were pressing
and fermenting their harvest in a tent. Never mind "garage-iste",
here's the first "tent-iste" we have come across.
When we brought back
Johannes and JuliaÕs Spatburgunder in
September 2009, it sold out so fast we had to beg them for everything they had
left. Which wasnÕt much. This year we were knocking on their door pretty much
the day after bottling. Johannes and Julia make top-class, cool-climate, silky
Pinot Noir from the middle of the most unlikely part of Rheinhessen. It does
help that JuliaÕs Grandfather had some old parcels of vines on the only hill
for miles around, just outside their village of Gau-Odernheim.
Riffel (Bingen)
Bingen
is on a massive corner on the Rhine, opposite Rudesheim. It is at the
north-western edge of the region where four wine-growing regions meet. Rheinhessen
Nahe, Mittel Rhein and the Rheingau. Carolin and Erik Riffel have vines in the
full south-facing Bingen Scharlachberg vineyard. Millions of years ago the
Rhine looped below it, which explains why the wines are more Rheingau in style
than Rheinhessen. The Riffels make electric, dry, modern Riesling which express
the steep mineral-laden slate it is grown on and the very late October
harvesting which extracts maximum ripeness.
We
owe thanks to the German Food Writer Ursula Heinzelmann for the tip. She was
researching a piece about the wines Goethe drank and heard about the
Scharlachberg. Thanks Ursula!