Top pairings
10 undiscovered wine gems from Germany
“If you think you know German wine, drink again” ran the slogan of an advertising campaign in the UK a few years ago. Consumers, it seemed needed persuading but a succession of good vintages, the enthusiastic advocacy of wine writers such as Jancis Robinson and the appearance of a broader selection of German wines on the lists of an increasing number of London’s top restaurants seems to be finally stimulating an appetite for these most underrated of wines.
But the process is slow which is why I and an international group of food and wine journalists recently found ourselves on a trip to Germany’s southernmost wine regions to see some of the up and coming talent for ourselves.
The topography of southwestern Germany certainly differs from northern regions such as the Mosel, Mittelrhein and Ahr: the north has vines growing on steeper slopes along the river valleys, whereas the south has much more variable topographical conditions, from flat farmland to gentle rolling hills - and some impressively steep valleys too!
More crucially, the southwest is home to some of Germany’s most promising young winemakers. The up and coming “Generation Riesling” has experience of viticulture from both inside Germany and abroad.
Germany has enjoyed consistently good vintages since 2001, due in no small part to that looming meteorological albatross - global warming. As Ernst Buscher, a spokesman for the German Wine Institute told me, global warming is having a generally beneficial effect, helping grapes achieve a level of ripeness they haven’t always done in the past. (even though there are worries that the distinctive Kabinett style will become an increasing rarity)
It’s also made it viable for many more of Germany’s top producers to convert hectare after hectare of conventionally grown grapes to organic grapes. With support from the EU, Germany is now at the vanguard of the organic wine movement, and the GWI predicts there will be 5000 hectares of organic production by 2013, almost half the total vineyard area.
So here below are the 10 wines which stood out for me, some of them really outstanding bargains. Unfortunately none is currently available for retail in the UK, but orders can be placed directly with the vintners. Or make that an excuse to visit these beautiful wine regions and pick them up for yourselves! I’ll be suggesting a route for a wine-trip in the next couple of weeks.
*Prinz zu Salm - Dalberg’sches Weingute*
Schloss Wallhausen
Schlossstrasse 3
D-55595 Wallhausen
www.prinzsalm.de
+ 49 6706 9444 0
Tucked away in the picturesque Nahe village of Wallhausen, Prinz Salm’s weingut (wine estate) has been producing wine since 1200, and is the oldest family-owned wine estate in Germany. A member of the young winemaker and chef group “Nahe Talente”, Prinz Constantin zu Salm (right) is the 32nd generation of Schloss Wallhausen winemakers in the region.
1) 2007 Riesling Kabinett
At €8 this is the estate’s bestseller with good minerality and classic citrus notes: a great food wine - would go well with a roasted chicken stuffed with couscous, apricots, lemons and pistachios. Also excellent with cold lobster, crab or scallops that have been given an Asian twist.
2) 2007 Riesling Spatlese
A steal at €11, this off-dry sptlese would match with spicy, fragrant foods such as Thai curry, or with a light strawberry dessert
*Weingut Hirschhof*
Seegasse 29
67593 Westhofen
www.weingut-hirschhof.de
+49 6244 349
This organic wine estate, run by father and son Walter and Tobias Zimmer (pictured right) is at the heart of Westhofen in Rheinhessen. Dating back to 1466, the estate joined the “Federal Association of Ecological Viticulture” in 1991 and now has 25 hectares of organically grown grapes.
3) 2005 Gewurztraminer Trockenbeerenauslese - Westhofener Kirchspiel (Organic)
2005 was a good year for this trockenbeerenauslese: a powerfully fragrant sweet wine with enough acidity to keep it fresh and invigorating on the palate. At €26, it’s not cheap, but worth every penny. This would pair well with exotic, sweeter desserts, such as lychee or passionfruit tarts or a classic apple and cinnamon strudel
*Weingut Siener*
Peter Siener
Weinstrasse 31
76831 Birkweiler
www.weingutsiener.de
+49 6345 3539
Walking through the steep valley of Peter Siener’s vines it’s easy to see why his wines have such strong minerality - the soil is predominantly slate, which is unusual in the Pfalz region, but he also produces a Riesling grown on sandstone - much fruitier and more acidic than the slate-grown grapes on the hotter side of the valley. I preferred the sandstone version below. (Siener is pictured right)
4) 2007 Birkweiler Kastanienbusch Taschberg Riesling Trocken
This is named after the kastanien (chestnut) bushes growing near the vines, a really subtle, elegant example of a dry Riesling, with good fruit and light minerality. Great with grilled white fish such as a sea bream, seasoned very simply with lemon, salt and pepper, on a bed of sorrel leaves with some cooked broad beans: a match made in heaven
*Weingut Klumpp*
Heidelberger Strasse 100
76646 Bruchsal
www.weingut-klumpp.com
+49 7251 16719
Another organic wine estate, the Klumpp family - also a father and son operation - have 23 hectares of vines and have been fully organic since 1990. Young winemaker Markus Klumpp (right) consciously keeps the acidity slightly higher in his wines to allow them to stay fresh during ageing. His wines sell out within half a year of release - not bad for a wine estate in a region best known for its beer festivals!
5) 2007 Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris)
Grauburgunder is the predominant grape in Baden. Retailing at €7.50, this is a full-bodied and zesty wine, tempered by five months in small oak casks. It’s well-rounded enough that it can handle a variety of foods: think grilled chicken salad, light saltwater fish or pale game.
6) 2006 Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) “SK”
If you think German Pinot Noirs lack the finesse and elegance of their Burgundy namesakes, think again. At €25 this Pinot was the best red we tasted - full of classic wild strawberry on the nose, earthy notes and enough oak to balance the fruit, with a suggested ageing of 8-12 years - although sadly only two barrels were made! Would be perfect with roasted game such as venison or pheasant.
7) 2007 Scheurebe
A relatively modern hybrid between Silvaner and Riesling, Scheurebe has tropical notes, often perfumed with blackcurrant. A versatile wine, drink as an aperitif or marry happily with light game, or a tart passionfruit pudding. A steal at €12
Weingut Laible
Am Buehl 6
77770 Durbach
www.weingut-laible.de
+49 781 41238Andreas Laible (right) was recently nominated Young German Wine Maker of 2008. The estate’s steep vineyards are also in southern Germany’s Baden region. These are excellent conditions for grapes such as Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Pinot Noir, Scheurebe and a local variety of Traminer. Although Baden isn’t a traditional growing region for Riesling, this young winemaker is producing some lovely examples with strong mineral character
8) 2007 Riesling Auslese
This is a fabulous sipping wine - I could quite happily have spent the whole afternoon nursing it! A great example of the German expression “Riesling, one grape - many possibilities”! (€16.50)
9) 2007 Scheurebe Spatlese Trocken
Lots of citrus character here: grapefruit, clementine, with an elderflower, cardamom twist. Luscious, would be a superb match with Indian dishes, or indeed with a fresh goats cheese and citrus salad (€10)
10) 2007 Clevner Traminer Spatlese Trocken
Tramin, originally named after the Tyrolean village with the same name, is referred to as Clevner in Baden. This is a tremendous wine (€9.50) bursting with classic rose aromas, so fragrant and seductive - yet clean, crisp and refreshing. A glorious example of a versatile wine: it’s almost best sipped as an aperitif, but would match extremely well with Middle-Eastern or North African food, particularly with rose harissa seasoning
Signe Johansen is a young Norwegian food writer and cook who is about to embark on a MA in food anthropology
Photo by orlando s.
Answers to your food pairing dilemmas, from German apple cake to green olives and capers...
Some recent questions that have been posed to me have involved such ingredients as German apple cake, chocolate roulade, red mullet with green olives and capers, and English cheese. Here my choice pairings for your top food dilemmas (feel free to leave a comment with your own food dilemmas below)...
Q I’m planning a dinner and need a dessert wine that would match with both a German apple cake (buttery, sweet with a hint of cinnamon, apple sponge drenched in syrup) and a chocolate roulade
A The German apple cake wouldn’t be tricky at all - it’s combining it with the roulade that poses the problem. Normally I go for sweet red wines with chocolate but that wouldn’t be particularly nice with the apple cake. If you’re feeling very adventurous you could try a sweet sherry or montilla or, if the budget with stretch to it, a Tokaji. If not I’d go for a southern French muscat such as a Muscat de Rivesaltes which won’t be wonderful with the chocolate but should get by
Q I’m having more thoughts about the dessert option and am thinking it best to offer two different wines for this course, one to match the German apple cake and one for the chocolate roulade. My concern about the apple cake is that it is going to be very sweet so a classic apple dessert wine match might not be sweet enough. If you were to suggest separate matches for the two desserts, what would you choose?.
A I think that’s a better idea, honestly. I don’t know if you’re absolutely wedded to wine but it strikes me that an apple flavoured schnapps or eau de vie might be a good pairing for the apple cake. If not, given that it’s a German recipe, I think I’d go for a Beerenauslese which will have the sweetness to cope with the syrup but also the acidity to add a refreshing note too. With the chocolate roulade I’d go for some kind of sweet red which always has a ‘wow’ factor. A Maury from the south of France is probably the most keenly priced option. An Italian Recioto or Andrew Quady’s Elysium - an exotic black muscat from the States - would be viable alternatives
Q Can you suggest a Californian wine to match a dish of red mullet with green olive and caper crush. I was thinking about a Californian rose?
A I’d agree with you if you were suggesting a southern French rosé but a Californian one might possibly be a bit sweet. Californian ros has a tendency to be higher in residual sugar than its European equivalent and this is a Provenal-inspired dish. Maybe a Californian spin on a white Rhone blend (Bonny Doon comes to mind . . . )? Or a Pinot Grigio which is an increasingly popular varietal in the US
Q Could you suggest an English cheese to serve with white Burgundy, specifically, Puligny Montrachet, 1er Cru Caillerets, Dom. de Montille, 99, served out of magnum?
A I tasted a cheese I think would go perfectly with this wine the other day - it was a Gorwydd Caerphilly. Crumbly and mild but quite complex. If you didn’t have to stick to British cheese I’d go for a Chaource, which comes from the Champagne region.
Photo by KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA
Dry or fruity? Which style of white wine pairs best with simply grilled fish?
About the last place I’d have expected to have an enlightening discussion about food and wine matching is in a fisherman’s shack called Chez Loulou down on the Languedoc coast. Actually I do it an injustice. It’s a restaurant - just - but one that relies for its appeal on fabulously fresh fish rather than fantastically skilled cooking.
The owner though, whose name I don’t yet know, has absolutely the right attitude to wine. How many restauranteurs when you order a particular wine would ask you how you like it - dry or fruity? (The wine in question being the local Picpoul de Pinet.)
When we hesitated he went on to suggest that if we were looking for a wine to drink as an aperitif we should choose a fruity one whereas if we were concerned to match the grilled sea bass we had ordered we should opt for a drier style.
Of course this advice is particularly apposite in France where, when you order grilled fish, that’s what you get. They don’t go in for veg or other accompaniments that might possibly create a bridge to a fruitier wine.
But there is a useful insight here - namely that ultra-dry whites that don’t particularly shine on their own (Muscadet being the other obvious example) spring to life when partnered with simply cooked, ultra-fresh fish. And that fruitier wines can sometimes overwhelm their delicate sweet flavour.
It also shows how deeply engrained knowledge of food and wine still is in the average Frenchman!
Although not enough to keep the restaurant going, sadly. It has closed since I wrote this post!
See also...
- 12 great wine pairings with salmon
- What's the best wine pairing for tuna?
- When to pair red wine with fish
Image credit: Oleksandr P
What to pair with artisanal cheddar?
By artisanal cheddar, I mean cheddar that is mature, full-flavoured, and unpasteurised (learn more in this post: So what makes a great cheddar?). It isn't the easiest cheese to match with wine.
One’s instinct is to drink red but it’s a struggle. You don’t want anything too light and graceful or, conversely, too full-bodied and tannic. There can be some wild flavours in a cheese like this which I think are best matched by an equally artisanal wine - and old Syrah/Shiraz, Grenache or Mourvèdre, maybe - or a blend of all three. Or a good Zinfandel. But don’t introduce blues or smelly washed-rind cheeses to the cheeseboard as well.
Vintage port is surprisingly - or not so surprisingly - good as we confirmed at a cheese and wine tasting I conducted for Decanter last year. One associates it more with stilton but it’s equally good with a fine cheddar. But it’s not the type of wine to open with a ploughman’s or other light lunch.
That distinction goes to a traditional British ale which I’m not sure isn’t the best pairing for this kind of cheese, especially if you serve it with an onion pickle or a chutney. Something like Adnams Broadside or Young’s Special. If you find British beers too bitter a sweeter-flavoured American IPA may be more to your taste, being a classic example.
If you’re looking for a terroir-based match a farmhouse cider would be the obvious choice for an authentic Somerset cheddar, especially if you serve it with apples or an apple chutney. Personally I prefer a medium-dry style but that’s up to you.
Apple-based aperitifs or digestifs such as Pommeau and Pomona which is made by the Somerset Cider Brandy Company can also work very well. Obviously they’re more alcoholic than cider but you could serve them instead of port for after dinner drinking.
Other possibilities, less mainstream: a full-bodied oaked Chardonnay pairs surprisingly well with cheddar as does a good rich whisky like The Macallan or Famous Grouse. Sherry can also work well particularly if you serve your cheddar with nuts - I’d choose something like a palo cortado. Other possibilities would be a medium-dry Madeira or a 10 - or 20 - year old tawny port.
See also: The Best Wine Pairings for Cheddar Cheese
Image by SplitShire from Pixabay
Will and I win an award for our beer and food book Appetite for Ale!
It's an odd feeling going up to the podium with your son to pick up an award for beer writing. It’s not exactly the scene you envisage when you’re wheeling him around in his push chair. But there we were last night to pick up the oddly named Bishop’s Finger Beer With Food Award at the British Guild of Beer Writers Annual Dinner for our book Appetite for Ale (Phew - that was a mouthful!)
Actually Will is rather more used than me to picking up awards these days. The other day he was singled out as ‘the one to watch’ in the drinks category of the 2007 Courvoisier The Future 500 list having already won two other business awards this year and several for his pub the Marquess Tavern where we shot the book . (Will will probably be hugely embarrassed by all this puffery but I have to say I”m very proud of my boy)
We were interviewed afterwards and asked what the award meant to us. Well, a great deal actually. Neither of us would pretend to be beer experts so it’s great to be recognised by professionals in the field as having contributed something to the subject. And we hope the book will pull in a lot of new beer drinkers who will become as fascinated as we have been by the endless variety of flavours the beer world has to offer and how amazingly well it goes with food.
Needless to say the dinner, which was devised by TV chef (and beer fan) Brian Turner, was served with matching beers and very good it was too. Here is the menu with my comments:
Scallop mousse with smoked salmon dressing with Palm Speciale
A really lovely dish of the kind that only top chefs can produce - and rarely to this standard for these kind of numbers (a good 120 I would guess). Light as air, slightly wobbly and with a lovely sweet scallop flavour. Beer with its carbonation and hoppy bitterness cuts through the richness in much the same way as a glass of champagne.
Deus sorbet with Deus
I’m not totally convinced by the virtue of sorbets at this stage of the meal but there’s no doubt about it beer does make great sorbets. Seems a touch extravagant though to make them with Deus, the Dom Perignon of the beer world . . .
Spiced loin of Castlebridge beef, thyme braised potato, onion squash mash and curly kale
with Thornbridge Jaipur IPA
A classic beer-friendly dish that could have gone with almost any classic English ale. Here it was paired with one of my favourites Thornbridge Jaipur IPA which Willl and I also served at our Thanksgiving beer dinner
Lord of the Hundreds with fig chutney and Adnams Broadside
A model of how a cheese course should be presented - a good artisanal cheese and a big rich beer pulled together by a dollop of sweet fig chutney. Who needs cheeseboards?
Gingerbread with nutmeg ice cream and Innis & Gunn oak-aged beer
With its spicy flavours this was great idea for a dessert for a winter beer dinner (in fact we wished we’d thought of it ourselves) but the Innis & Gunn, which doesn’t seem to be quite as full-bodied as it once was, was just a bit too light and astringent for the dish. Surprisingly, the Broadside went perfectly.
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