Germany's Pulling Power - Wine Blast with Susie and Peter S4 E23

Summary

Did you know that Germany is the third largest producer of Pinot Noir in the world?

Or that one in three Riesling vines in the world grow in German vineyards – and much of these are making dry, increasingly terroir-driven wines these days?

There’s much that’s surprising, or perhaps unexpected about German wine right now.

For long the sector under-performed – but a series of changes since the late 1980s (a process that’s still ongoing, accelerated by climate change) has re-invigorated German wine, redefining its possibilities and forging a bright new future.

There’s even talk of the wines being, ‘sexy’ and of, ‘pulling power’…

All of which, plus the fact we’re just back from Germany (and have had an intriguing listener question in), is the perfect excuse to explore German wine.

We hear from Master of Wine and German specialist Alison Flemming plus Stefan Doktor, MD of the world-famous Schloss Johannisberg.

Along the way we talk terroir, global warming, food matching, GG and the rise of dry Riesling, why ‘succulent’ is such a good tasting term, PIWIs, and why a swimming pool was important for a 1964 Auslese…

Our thanks to Wines of Germany for sponsoring this episode and helping source some fantastic bottles for us to try and recommend (as below).

Starring

Wines

Here are the wines we taste in this episode. Click on the wine name for the Wine Searcher link to find where you can buy this wine around the world. Selected UK stockists are included where appropriate – often with the best price available: