Best-of-Riesling: Surprise from Franken

However, there was a big surprise. Producers from classic Riesling areas did not in the category “dry Riesling” (1055 of total 1877 wines), which by far has been occupied the most, but one Franconian. And this producer did not even belong to the VIPs. Winemaker Armin Heilmann from Michelbach, who made a name for himself as a new wine estate in the Gault Millau one year ago, has not been noticed by anybody.

“These are perhaps the consequences of climate change,” said professor Dr. Ulrich Fischer from the Agricultural Service Centre of Rhineland-Palatinate in Neustadt, who was responsible for the organization and who and his team had everything well under control, but not all of the approximately 150 judges from around 15 different nations, as far as Canada, Australia and Finland.

In part, there were huge differences in the ratings, because the applied OIV-scoring system has often been interpreted very differently. There were judges, who righteously punished overripe wines with scores clearly under 80 points, while others dared to give such wines more than 90 points, earning only a shake of the head among their colleagues at the table. The amazing thing in the preliminary round was that there were plenty of mediocre and even bad wines entered in the contest.

After a thorough evaluation, most results concerning the top ranks in the different categories were easily comprehensible. The Franconian Heilmann for example, was a worthy winner beating two wines from the Rheingau. Even the huge, delicate 2009 Trockenbeerenauslese of the actual red wine specialist Philip Kuhn from Laumersheim was a confident 1st place. In the category of semi-dry growths, even representatives from the Pfalz announced afterwards that actually the wine by Jacob Jung from the Rheingau, which ranked second place, had been the better one. But the difference was not fundamental.

However, the (supposedly) best Riesling from the New World, a seemingly ancient 2008 wine from the State of New York, where experts clearly noted ATA (atypical aging), caused amazement. The category was poorly represented in terms of quality. Here, the jury was actually supposed to reach only one conclusion: no winner due to lack of class.

Despite all that, Hendrik Hering, Minister of Viticulture, concluded that the Riesling grape is the uncrowned queen of the white wine grapes used to produce the finest and most complex wines which reflect the characteristics of the terroir beyond comparison. He was particularly pleased with the fact that the number of submitted wines had increased by around ten percent compared to 2008. The number of wines to submit was limited to three per company (participation fee for one wine was €50, and €100 for three wines). Media partners such as Vinum, Selection, Frankfurter Allgemeine and wein-plus.de are to spread the results among people. (r.knoll)

This year’s winners:

Category 1 - Dry Rieslings

• 1st place: 2009 Michelbacher Apostelgarten, Spätlese
  Heilmann Winery, Alzenau, Franken
• 2nd place: 2009 Erbach Hohenrain, Alte Reben
  Jakob Jung Winery, Eltville-Erbach, Rheingau
• 3rd place: 2009 Hochheimer Hölle, Spätlese Heinrich Baison Winery, Hochheim, Rheingau

Category 2 - Semi-Dry Rieslings

• 1st place: 2009 Sausenheimer Honigsack, Kabinett
  Schenk-Siebert Winery, Grünstadt-Sausenheim, Pfalz
• 2nd place: 2009 Erbach Steinmorgen, Spätlese
  Jakob Jung Winery, Eltville-Erbach, Rheingau
• 3rd place: 2009 Rüdesheim Berg Roseneck, Kabinett
  Dr. Corvers-Kauter Winery, Oestrich-Winkel, Rheingau

Category 3 - Fruity-sweet Rieslings

• 1st place: 2009 Zeller Nußberg, Spätlese
  Stephan Fischer Winery, Zell, Mosel
• 2nd place: 2009 Schloss Fürstenberg, Spätlese
  Florian Weingart Winery, Spay, Mittelrhein
• 3rd place: 2009 Erdener Treppchen, Spätlese
  Hermann-Josef Schwaab Winery, Erden, Mosel

Category 4 – Noble sweet Rieslings

• 1st place: 2009 Laumersheimer Kirschgarten, TBA, Great Growth
  Philipp Kuhn Winery, Laumersheim, Pfalz
• 2nd place: 2009 Würzburger Stein, Beerenauslese
  Juliusspital Winery, Würzburg, Franken
• 3rd place: 2009 Weisenheimer Hahnen, Trockenbeerenauslese
  Langenwalter Winery, Weisenheim am Sand, Pfalz

Best European Riesling

• 2009 Wormeldange Koeppchen “Les Terrasses”
  Domain Alice Hartmann, Wormeldange, Luxembourg

Best Riesling from the New World

• 2008 Cayuga Lake
  Cayuga Ridge Estate, Ovid, New York

Best Riesling Collection

• Wilker Pleisweiler-Oberhofen Winery, Pfalz
  2009 Riesling Dry
  2009 Riesling Kabinett dry
  2009 Riesling Spätlese dry
   
• Kees-Kieren Winery, Graach, Mosel
  2009 Graacher Domprobst, steep slope Spätlese dry
  2009 Graacher Himmelreich, Spätlese
  2007 Graacher Himmelreich, Trockenbeerenauslese