Wines of Germany

On Wednesday 22nd February 2012, German Wine Agencies are hosting a trade tasting and question and answer seminar showcasing some of the most thrilling and innovative wines produced by Germany's 'new generation' of winemakers. 

For more information and details on how to register, please see below PDF. 

This summer, Wines of Germany will be touring England spreading the word about the delicious wines produced in Germany.

We will be visiting a selection of popular consumer festivals, offering quality German wines from our pub garden themed stand. If you fancy enjoying a glass of German wine at ‘The Bunch of Grapes’, then why not head over to the following festivals and come and say hello!

Clapham Foodies Festival 7^th – 9^th June 2013 – Stand number tbc

Taste of London 20^th – 23^rd June 2013 – Stand number P5

Bristol Foodies Festival – Stand number tbc

Alternatively, if you’re heading to this year’s Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival, don’t forget to sign up to the Wines of Germany wine talk with Neil Phillips aka The Wine Tipster. (Sunday 16^th June, 2.30pm).

German Wine Agencies host the Winemaker's Dinner with Markus Schneider.

Please note this is an invite only event.

The German Wine Institute will once again be present at this year's Vinexpo. Alongside the ongoing tasting of wines on the stand, there will be a selection of specific tastings taking place at tasting lab 3. 

Click the PDF below for a full list of tastings.

Please note, this is a trade only event. 

This April, Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee will be hosting a four course Indian dinner paired with German wines at The Cinnamon Club in London. The event forms part of Jeannie’s ‘Asian World Tour’ which has seen her visit cities across the globe matching Asian cuisine with German wines.

The menu is looking amazing so if you’re a bit of a dab hand in the kitchen and are looking for new ways to pair up German wines with Asian cuisine, check out our blog in early May where we will post the menu to get you to pass on a bit of Indian culinary inspiration!

(Please note the Perfect Pairing event is trade only)

Saturday, 20 April 2013, from 10am until 1pm
In the Library of the Goethe-Institut London
Course cost: £80 which includes 6 wine glasses to keep and course materials
Registration: +44 20 75964004
german@london.goethe.org

After the success of the first ever German wine tasting course in winter 2012, the Goethe-Institut London will be offering four new courses to discover the world of German viticulture. The courses will be open to anybody who is interested in German wines and would like to learn more about it. 
All courses will be held in English, so knowledge of the German language will not be required but could be of advantage.

Wine Country Germany! 
Held by freelance educator and wine writer Anne Krebiehl, the course will introduce Germany as an important wine producing and wine drinking country with a long history. Topics will including looking at Germany and the wine producing regions as well as the climate, grapes and history. Learn how to taste and smell wine, the difference between taste and flavour and the constituents of wine and learn to read the impenetrable German label. 

Enrolment form (pdf, 52KB)

Throughout the month of July, Wines of Germany will once again be celebrating the delicious grape variety that is…Riesling! The 31 Days of German Riesling campaign aims to help retailers, restaurants, pubs and online retailers to sell more German wine over the summer.

How the restaurants and retailers decide to promote Riesling is entirely up to them. In past years we have seen in store promotions, quirky promotional videos used on websites, very imaginative use of the 31 Days merchandise and even shops offering tasters of Riesling on the street to passersby!

Our 31 Days website will soon be up and running where you can find a restaurant or retailer near you who is involved in the campaign. Why not pop in and see how you can get involved too? Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @WinesofGermany for all the latest updates and to get involved in our #rieslingmoment competition.

See below for your invitation to yet another fantastic tasting at The Winery: 

You are invited to our next tasting on Monday 11th March from 17.00-21.00h at our shop in Clifton Road W9. 

One of the highlights of our trip to northern Italy a few weeks ago was stumbling across a ridiculously good Barbera d’Asti in a restaurant in Nizza Monferrato in Piedmont. We were in Piedmont to visit the iconic Scarpa winery and were wading through a bottle of their delicious Barbaresco 1999 when we asked the owner if he could recommend something else from his winelist that was in a similarly unreconstructed and old-fashioned vein. He thought for a moment and said “there is just one other wine I can think of - Guasti Clementi”. The following day, after a wonderful tasting at Scarpa, we hotfooted it around to meet Andrea and Alessandro Guasti and to be dazzled by Andrea’s incredibly mobile and expressive hand gestures. And the wines. The good news is that the Barbera in question arrived yesterday and we will be showing it on Monday.

http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/guasti-clemente/

Our latest delivery of Raphael Trouillard’s Cascavel wines arrived on Wednesday. We’ll be opening one of his herbal, warming reds made at the base of the Mont Ventoux.

http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/cascavel/

One of the hits of last summer’s trip to Bordeaux was finding Domaine de Grandmaison in Pessac-Leognan in the suburbs of the city of Bordeaux itself. Mayi and Francois Bouquier of Grandmaison are literally at the edge of the urban sprawl. Houses finish, there’s a sign for Leognan and there are the gates to their Chateau. They make two wines, one red and one white. On Monday we will be tasting both from the latest shipment. Can’t wait!

http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/grandmaison

Dr Ulrich Stein (the Professor, as our colleague Dan calls him) and his brother Peter have a quirky reputation. Uli’s house is like something out of The Munster Family teetering at the top of the slate slopes overlooking the Mosel at Alf. They experiment constantly and caused a stir a decade ago by planting Cabernet Sauvignon and overturning the authorities that said they couldn’t. Their Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) is excellent. They have artist and cartoonist mates who design their labels. Traubenflusterer (The Grape Whisperer) is their everyday dry Riesling - tight, lean and crisp - which they produce in one litre bottles. 

http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/stein-alf/

Brother and sister team, Hans-Josef and Maria Becker, make distinctive Riesling in their maze-like buildings and cellar by the Rhine at Walluf. The style is utterly traditional and utterly distinctive, untouched by fashion. Maria often turns up beautifully mature bottles from corners of their dark, damp cellar for us. She uncovered another batch of the legendary 1976 Spatlese for us recently. No, we’re not opening that one – we’re going to open some of their mature, dry Riesling 1997 from the Rheinberg, their steeply-sloped (well, steep for the Rheingau) vineyard which is directly on the Rhine riverbank.

http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/jb-becker-walluf/

We do hope you can join us and, as usual, feel free to bring a friend.

Join the team over at The Humble Grape for a German Wine tasting not to be missed! 

Germany is a nation steeped in winemaking history and tradition.

Join us on a road trip of the most exciting regions and dynamic producers from thrilling, linear and mineral Riesling wines of the Pfalz, to the succulent and elegant fine-boned Pinot Noir of Baden.

The secret is out on the quality of German wines, come along, taste and discover for yourself!
_____________________________________

£40 per ticket - 7 wines + tapas
This German Tasting will feature the wines of niche artisan and up-and-coming producers, from classic dry Riesling, to Weissburgunder and the highly sought after Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir).

All complimented by the most delicious Spanish cheese, cured meats, marcona almonds, olives, artisan bread and exquisitely aromatic olive oil from Salamanca. 

http://www.humblegrape.co.uk/events.html

German Wine Agencies present ‘Off Piste’ – a tasting designed to highlight a broad spectrum of grape varieties throughout the regions of Germany.

Head to The Winery tomorrow night to taste a fantastic line up of German wines amongst many others! 

See below for further information. 

You are invited to our next tasting on Tuesday 29th January from 17.00-21.00h at our shop in Clifton Road W9.

 We will be opening an impressive, spicy, peppery, aromatic Muscat Blanc. California, Alsace-style. Debora Cahn and her husband Ted Bennett joined the back to the land movement in the 1970s, moving from San Francisco Bay to the foggy north Anderson Valley to set up Navarro vineyards. 
http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/navarro/
 
Wild-eyed Laurent Gauthier, man of few words, makes wines from two villages in Beaujolais; Chenas and Moulin-a-Vent. His latest Moulin-a-Vent arrived recently. Let’s make it a Gamay January.
http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/laurent-gauthier-domaine-des-caves-chenas/
 
Dry Germans are coming in three forms on Tuesday. After kicking off with sparkling dry Riesling Sekt by Josef Laufer in the Rheingau, we’ll be showing dry Riesling from Haart, the top address in Piesport, packed with wild yeasts and slate extract. 
http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/haart-piesport/
 
Completing the German selction will be wonderful, modern Spatburgunder (German for Pinot Noir) by Shelter Winery in Baden. Hans-Bert Espe and Silke Wolf are the young couple who started making their wines in a defunct Canadian Air Force bunker.
http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/shelter-kenzingen/
 
Valery Renaudat’s excellent Reuilly and Quincy Sauvignon Blancs have been firm Winery favourites for well over a decade. Just to throw a curve, we thought we’d open his Rose. 
 
Last of our reds will be Bordeaux - swashbuckling Axel and his sister Inez de Lavaux’s Chateau La Croix Moulinet.
http://www.thewineryuk.com/growers/horeau-beylot-libourne/
 
We do hope you can join us and, as usual, feel free to bring a friend.

info@thewineryuk.com
http://www.thewineryuk.com/
http://www.facebook.com/thewineryuk

We are in the process of recruiting for the 31 Days of German Riesling 2013.

Do you work in a restaurant or retailer which sells German wines? If so, why not get involved in our exciting promotion throughout July which aims to spread the word about German Riesling?

Check out the information pack below and get in touch today at germanwine@thisisphipps.com

On Tuesday 19th February 2013, German Wine Agencies will be presenting 'Off Piste' - a tasting offering the chance to sample a unique selection of German wines from across the regions of Germany. 

Find more details below and email alex.whiteley@germanwineagencies.co.uk for your official invitation 

*please note this is a press and trade only event

The Goethe-Institut are, for the first time, offering a German wine tasting course to wine enthusiasts of all levels! Covering all bases from climate and soils to winemaking and comparing grape varieties, this course is designed to teach you all you need to know about these delicious wines.
 
The course will take place across five weeks in November and December and will be taught by freelance wine writer and educator Anne Krebiehl, whose work has been published in titles including Harpers Wine & Spirit, The Financial Times and London Evening Standard. 
 
Don’t miss out on this great opportunity, sign up today! http://bit.ly/QGobxv 

Dates: 6th, 13th, 27th November & 4th, 11th December from 7- 9pm in the Library of the Goethe-Institut London

Cost: £150 which includes 6 glasses to keep and course materials

The Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) invites you to join them at The Great Rheingau Riesling Review 2012 presenting the world – wide first international launch of the Rheingau Riesling “ERSTES GEWÄCHS” from the last vintage 2011.

The focus of the tasting will be on the wonderful 2011 vintage, including estate-bottled Rieslings in the upper segments in modern dry or traditional sweet style. As special stars in the review, some historical rarities from the treasure chambers such as the 1959 will also be available for sample.

The event will take place 12.30pm – 5pm Thursday 6th September 2012. If you are interested in attending, please contact Jen Gevaux at Phipps PR: jen.gevaux@thisisphipps.com, tel: 020 7759 7400. Please note that this is a press and trade only event. For further information on VDP, please visit www.vdp.de.

Sports, culture, tourism, food and wine. Those were the topics at the 'Discover the taste of Germany' event that took place in London, July 31st 2012. The night was hosted by the German National Tourist Board (DZT) and the German Wine Institute (DWI) who welcomed over 100 prominent guests.
 
The event aimed to celebrate everything Germany has to offer, especially its sport, culture, food and wine.

More than 100 attendees were treated to a selection of delicious German cuisine partnered with a line up of first class German wines. 

Speeches included Klaus Lohmann, German National Tourist Board, Axel Achten, Managing Director Deutsche Sport Marketing (DSM) and Steffen Schindler, Marketing Director German Wine Institute (DWI).

Following the event, guests were also lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet the Olympic Gold medalists from the German Equestrian Team, including two-time Gold medalist Michael Jung.

A great night for Germany and the Olympic team.

(picture alliance/Jan Haas)

As the Riesling Summit draws ever closer, we thought it was high time we revealed some more details!

We're delighted to announce that top German winemaker (not to mention one of the wine trade's most entertaining characters), Ernie Loosen will be attending the Riesling Summit to present our Riesling & Terroir masterclass! Places are fast running out, so sign up quickly if you want to hear from the man himself!

We also have German Riesling enthusiast David Motion from the Winery in Maida Vale, who has kindly offered to pass on his top tips for enthusing customers about German Riesling to the rest of the trade.

Our International Riesling Review is shaping up to be an interesting and educational tasting for visitors, with various producers and generics - including Wines of Chile, New Zealand Winegrowers, Washington Wine Board, Wine Australia and the Alsace Wine Board all helping us secure some amazing Rieslings from around the world to taste alongside a top line-up from Germany. We're producing a tasting book for the tasting so details about all the Rieslings featured in the tasting will be included in the book, along with an area for you to take notes about the stylistic differences.

More details will be revealed in due course about the panel discussion so if you are interested in attending the Riesling Summit or just want some more details, email us at germanwine@thisisphipps.com before 6th June. It's a trade only event so sorry, it's only open to people working in the wine industry.

Wines of Germany is hosting the Riesling Summit on Wednesday 27th June to kick off the summer of German Riesling in style.

This day-long event will feature a whole host of activities aimed at educating the UK trade about German Riesling, and showing them that German Riesling should be the natural choice if you are looking for lighter wine styles, but don’t want to compromise on quality.  

The day will start with a panel discussion about Germany's place in the emerging lower-alcohol category, asking the question, 'With the recent wave of lower-alcohol ranges from big brands introduced to the market, is the UK trade missing a trick by overlooking naturally lower alcohol wines in favour of artificially produced wines?'

From midday, guests will be invited to take part in an International Riesling Review, where they will have the chance to try and compare some of the best Rieslings from around the world, with Rieslings from New Zealand, Chile and Australia all represented alongside German Rieslings. Guests will also have the opportunity to taste Rieslings produced by the Generation Riesling group, which includes some of Germany’s most talented, young winemakers. Generation Riesling winemakers Jan Klein and Eva Fricke will both be on hand to talk about the wines.

Throughout the afternoon, we will be running a series of master-classes with top experts to help educate frontline staff in the UK on and off trade on how to sell German wine to their customers.

The summit will start at 10:30am and will finish at 5pm. If you would like to receive an invitation, please contact germanwine@thisisphipps.com, stating which company you work for, as this is a trade only event.

They say it takes 30 days to acquire a habit, so this summer, we’re bringing Riesling to the masses with the 31 Days of German Riesling!

If you work for a restaurant or a wine merchant in the UK, sign up today to take part in our 31 Days of German Riesling promotion which is taking place this July. To take part, all you have to do is sell at least two German Rieslings for the duration of the promotion. You can run whatever promotions you want, whether that’s wine and food matching workshops, online promotions, discounts on selected bottles of German Riesling or in-store tastings – it’s entirely up to you!

We’re offering some amazing prizes for the best retailer and best restaurant promotions including an all-expenses-paid buying trip for two people to Germany, or £500 towards new German wine listings if you are one of the runners up, and we’ll also be offering consumers who take part in your promotions the chance to win a weekend break to Germany. On top of that, we’ll send you some eye-catching, bespoke POS materials including menu cards, posters, t-shirts, pens, badges and stickers. What’s not to love?

Keen to sign up? Download the form below and return it to us by email at germanwine@thisisphipps.com.

If you would like any further details or a restaurant/retailer information pack, give us a call anytime from Monday – Friday, 9am - 6pm.

The German VDP member wineries are inviting members of the international wine trade to their annual fine wine fair, 'VDP Weinbörse 2012'.

The event will take place on Sunday 29th April from 11am-6pm, and Monday 30th April from 10am-5pm, at The Rheingoldhalle in Mainz, Germany, and will feature more than 1,000 wines from 165 VDP member wineries.

For more information please visit the VDP's website at http://www.vdp.de/en/. To register for the event please see below PDF.

After the tremendously successful debut of the VDP's "Masterpieces of the Mosel" last year, this year's presentation will focus an the wines of 2010, a vintage that particularly profited from the "golden October".

A wine presentation and the auction of Grosser Ring will take place on the 23 and 24 September in Trier and both days are open to members of the press, trade and gastronomy, as well as private wine enthusiasts.

For more information and to register online, please click on the following link: http://grosserring.de/cms/front_content.php?idart=250

Our German wine friends at the Wine Barn, along with 11 other importers, are happy to announce that on Wednesday 7th of September they will come together for the inaugral "Dirty Dozen Importer Tasting" taking place at Dartmouth House in London’s Mayfair, from 10:00am - 5:30pm. 

The Dirty Dozen is a group of like-minded specialist importers representing some of the most exciting wineries and domaines available in the UK - for more information about the tasting please visit www.dirtydozentasting.co.uk or to register your attendance contact register@dirtydozentasting.co.uk.

As part of this summer's Riesling Week, The Wine Barn is collaborating with Yauatcha, The Ledbury and Home House to showcase a selection of fantastic offers on German Riesling, which will be available at participating restaurants between the 23^rd and 31^st July.

Please click on the PDF below for further details:

It’s the perfect match with food, great on its own and there is a style to suit every occasion, Riesling is the grape variety to be sampling this summer.

Wines of Germany invites you to try out this versatile grape variety by visiting one of a number of independent wine merchants and restaurants participating in the UK’s first ever “Riesling Week” – a promotion running up and down the country from 23^rd – 31^st July 2011. Food and wine matching dinners, mini tastings and a range of Rieslings by the glass are just some of the ways this grape variety is being showcased at the following restaurants:

Lutyens, London

Yauatcha, London

Home House, London

The Ledbury, London 

Wood Street Bar and Restaurant, London

The Vineyard at Stockcross, Berkshire 

Hotel de Vin, Winchester

If eating or drinking in the comfort of your own home is more your style, why not visit in store or online - one of the following independent wine merchants, who will guide you through the various styles of German Riesling available and help you chose the perfect wine for you:

• Appellation Wines, Edinburgh
• Avery's, Bristol
• Barrels and Bottles, Derbyshire
• Bedales, London
• The City Beverage Company, London
• Corks Out, Cheshire
• Great Western Wines, Bath
• Ex Cellar, Fulham, London
• Inverarity One to One, Glasgow
• The Oxford Wine Company , Oxford
• Rai Wine Shop, Birmingham
• Tanners, several location in the midlands and Wales
• Thomas Peatling , Suffolk
• The Wine Store, Cambridge
• The Wine Barn, London 

For further information on the promotions being held at each restaurant/independent merchant please visit our facebook page or contact the Wines of Germany team on germanwine@phippspr.com Phone: 020 7759 7405

The VDP invites you to an excluive tasting of excellent Mosel wines from the small but precious 2010 vintage, plus older vintages, taking place on Monday 4th July from 2pm-5.30pm at the Great Hall, One Great George Street, Westminster. To register your interest, please see attached invitation and email Alexia Putze on a.putze@vdp.de .

Wines of Germany are pleased to announce that they will be supporting the Freud Museum's 25 Anniversary celebrations taking place on Tuesday the 7th June between 6.30 and 8.30pm at the Hampstead Home of Sigmund Freud.

The new art exhibition - by award-winning German artist Marcel Odenbach - is inspired by Bella Freud's work (grand-daughter of Sigmund) and will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the museum.

For more information, please see invitation below.

Awin Barratt Siegel Wine Agencies invites members of the trade to their Masters of Riesling Tasting at Michael Schuster's Wine School in London on Wednesday 8th June from 10.30 - 16.30

For more information, please see the PDF invite below or email Lesley Gray on lg@abswineagencies.co.uk

Further to the success of last year’s event, GROSSE RING VDP Mosel is hosting a wine presentation of the VDP winegrowers and the 124th Prädikat wine auction from September 22nd to September 23rd 2011.

Experience the true masterpieces of the Mosel with a fine and exceedingly exciting 2010 vintage, exhibiting playful lightness, brilliant acidity structure and a great potential for ageing. 

Please take a look at the PDF below for more information.

* CONSUMER TASTING *

Steffen Schindler of the German Wine Institute will introduce you to the Generation Riesling – a group of young, acclaimed winemakers from
Germany, who have come together to promote the modern, dry styles of wines being produced by the country’s new wave of ambitious
winemakers.

With a chance to taste a range of wines including Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir in a range of styles, this is a great opportunity to gain some insight into the world of German wines and winemaking today.

To find out more, visit the WSET website

The team at The Winery invites you to an exclusive German Wine Tasting at Hulsta Furniture, 23-25 Baker Street, W1U 8EQ on Thursday 17th March 18.00-21.00h.

The 10 wine line-up will include rieslings by Fred Prinz in Hallgarten and eco rieslings by Harald Steffens-Kess and Thorsten Melsheimer in Reil on the Mosel. There will also be some startling Spatburgunders available to taste, coming from the tiny Ahr Valley just near Bonn.

Tickets are £25 each and can be booked by calling 020 7286 6475. For more information, please visit:

http://www.thewineryuk.com/made-in-germany-tasting/

The Specialist Importers Trade Tasting will take place in London on the 23^rd February 2011 at the prestigious Vinopolis venue. Several German producers will be attending the event including Kilian Graf Von Bentzel-Sturmfeder who will be on the Winehaus stand (stand 21). For more information about the event, please visit http://www.sittastings.com/

Due to popular demand, the Sommelier Spring Class is back!

Now in its third year, Wines of Germany is running a trip for 50 of the best sommeliers from around the world this April.

The trip will include a visit to the annual VDP trade fair - the Mainzer Weinbörse, where sommeliers will get the opportunity to taste the 2010 vintage for the first time - plus two days of winery visits abd a day of seminars at the University of Applied Science Fachhochschule Geisenheim on the following topics:

- Riesling & Pinots – varietal differences due to terroir in Germany’s wine regions
- Riesling – ageing potential and/ or biodynamic winegrowing
- Pinot Noir seminar

Sommeliers will also be invited to attend the annual VDP celebration ball, which is always a memorable (if somewhat late!) night for attending sommeliers!

The trip will run from 15th - 19th April so if you are keen to attend and are currently working as a sommelier in the UK, please register your interest by emailing us at germanwine@phippspr.com by Monday 14th February. (Sommeliers outside the UK should contact the German Wine Institute in Mainz or the Wines of Germany office in their home country for further details).

If you have any questions about the trip, please do get in touch.

As announced this week in the WSET newsletter, the German Wine Institute is inviting wine educators from around the world to come to Germany for the inaugral Wine Academy trip, which is taking place from 8th - 11th September 2011.

The trip will include tastings and seminars, plus winery visits to various German wine regions. The trip is open to all wine educators, so we - the Wines of Germany team in London - are recruiting wine educators currently teaching in the UK to attend the trip. (Educators outside the UK should contact the German Wine Institute in Mainz or the Wines of Germany office in their country of residence for further details).

Educators who are keen to attend this trip should register their interest by email at germanwine@phippspr.com before 28th February 2011. Please note that registration does not guarantee a place on the trip as there are only six places available – when the final itinerary for the trip is confirmed, we will email everyone who has registered their interest and the first six to come back to us to confirm their attendance will get a place on the trip.

Good luck to everyone who registers - it promises to be a memorable trip!

Following its success in the USA, Riesling Week is coming to the UK for the first time in 2011!

Wines of Germany is linking up with restaurants and independent wine merchants nationwide for one week this July to highlight the food matching capabilities, versatility and delicious taste of German Rieslings.

Full details of participating restaurants and retailers' promotions will be announced here in due course, as well as on our Facebook page so watch this space!

*TRADE ONLY*

For the first time in five years, Wines of Germany is holding a trade tasting in the UK – the Riesling & Co tasting.

The tasting will be preceded by "German wine Question Time" from 10:30 - 12:00 midday. A panel of industry experts will take questions from the audience about the future of German wines in the UK market. Places are limited, so email caroline.park@phippspr.com to register or for further information

Trade tasting: 12:00 - 18:00

Riesling & Co will see more than 20 German producers – both established and up-and-coming – descend on the UK to show some of the best wines being made by German winemakers today.  

Exhibitors include:

If you are a member of the trade and you would like to receive an invitation to this event, please email: caroline.park@phippspr.com so we can ensure you are contacted ahead of the tasting.