German Red Wine Prize: Baden and Württemberg succeed

Furthermore, Schnaitmann caused a special surprise in the category "Underestimated Varieties" which he won with a Trollinger wine! Close behind him was a Portugieser wine produced by the winemaker central cooperative in Möglingen. With this award, this cooperative has shown that large concerns are also capable of delivering great performances. "The result fits in the Trollinger- year," assesses Vinum editor Rudolf Knoll. A Trollinger wine has already aroused enthusiasm in Württenberg and contributed to a boom of submissions last year when it had been placed second place. After submitting less than 10 wines in the last couple of years, more than 40 "Trolli" wines were entered in the competition this time. Eleven of them took part in the finale.

Results in other categories were also anything but commonplace. The Bad Cannstatt vintners cooperative won twice. It won - together with the Burggarten wine estate in Heppingen in the Ahr region (last year they won in the cuveé category, this time with a Frühburgunder wine) - in the category "Traditional German Varieties" - submitting a fine-aromatic Samtrot. Furthermore, the cooperative won the first prize in the strong group of cuveés. Here, too, there was another joint winner, two young brothers from the Pfalz region. Andreas and Steffen Rings from Freinsheim, both highly talented, had a reason to celebrate together with winemakers from Bad Cannstatt. They were closely followed by another cooperative from Stuttgart, who also won a prize: the Weinmanufaktur Untertürkheim.

In the category "Lemberger", the jury marveled at the freshness of a 2003 wine submitted by G.A. Heinrich from Heilbronn. It achieved a higher score than all the younger Lemberger wines. His closest competitor was a 2007 vintage produced by the Karl Haidle wine estate from Kernen-Stetten. Syrah was the dominant variety in the category "International Classics". Fritz Wassmer from Bad Krozingen-Schlatt in Baden was the winner, ahead of the Wine Estate of Mainz. Winemaker Michael Fleischer was satisfied with reaching second place; his Cabernet Dorio was on top in the category "New Breeds", winning out over a Dornfelder, also from the Haidle wine estate.

Last but not least - the noble sweet wines: The Manz wine estate in Weinolsheim (Rheinhessen) won with a Pinot Noir ice wine. A Pinot Noir Trockenbeerenauslese from the Störrlein & Krenig wine estate in Randersacker in Franken came second place. Moreover, a special award will be presented by Vinum to a producer from the Pfalz region who managed to end up in the finale with no less than 13 wines - and just missed getting into the top positions.

His name will only be announced at the awards gala that will take place in Ettlingen on October 31st. At this event, the successful winemakers will be presenting their top wines and other wines from their assortment from 2:30pm to 6:00pm in the afternoon (admission: 20 Euros). As of 7:00pm, the crew of the "Erbprinz" restaurant will be cooking meals matching the best German red wines (price all- inclusive 148 Euros, reservations can be made under telephone 075 31-13 28 23 or info@vinum.de).

The selected wines, which you can taste, are taken from a total of 1270 submissions. This shows that the Vinum Red Wine Prize, which has been organized since 1987, enjoys great recognition in the sector, even though selections are made quite strict, and only 340 wines qualified for the finale. It takes three examinations in the multilevel competition until a wine is placed in one of the top positions.

For further information on the competition, please contact Vinum in Konstanz via telephone 07531-132823, via email redaction.deutschland@vinum.info or you can directly contact Vinum editor Rudolf Knoll via telephone 09431-1228, 0171-8238352, rudolf.knoll@t-online.de. (r.knoll)