Knoll´s winemaker tip: "Milk and Wine"

He is cultivating some 13 hectares of vines in Monsheim in the south of Rheinhessen and he has the best educational background you can think of. The qualified viticulture technician spent his years of apprenticeship at the best companies in Germany, at Keller in Flörsheim- Dalsheim and at Knipser in Laumersheim. Now 32, he had been learning a lot there, but later he has developed a style of his own.

He can experiment with different types of soil at home. Loess, sandy loam, gravel and limestone, whereby the latter is well suited for Burgundy wines. That is why Karl- Hermann Milch has to offer several Chardonnay wines, of which the current "S", which grows in the Silberberg vineyard in Monsheim, is as convincing as a 2008 wine from the same vineyard, but which come from a certain area which is called "Blauarsch". His Riesling comes from the Rosengarten in Monsheim and produced an exceptionally subtle, elegant dry quality wine as well as a fruity Spätlese whose Auslese level is not expressed in the prize (€ 8.50).

The winemaker from Monsheim is increasingly successful with red wines as well. His 2007 Frühburgunder is a very elegant wine, and his 2003 Dornfelder, which has aged a long time, still shows a lot of temper and fire. Furthermore, there is also a young Rosé wine which a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and which is a lot of fun.

Milk´s Chardonnay "Blauarsch" (harvest yield merely over 30 hectoliters/ hectare) has already succeeded in confusing well known celebrities such as the former estate counselor of Johannisberg castle in the Rheingau. Wolfgang Schleicher, who resides in Mainz, Rheinhessen has a weakness for growths from Rheinhessen. He was thrilled when he tasted the Chardonnay with the unusual name for the first time, but he was puzzled when he saw the prize of €12.50. "The wine is damn good, but it costs more than our "Gelblack" Riesling from Johannisberg." This led a wine magazine in Rheinhessen to publish the following headline: "Blauarsch beats Gelblack". (r.knoll)