Perhaps this list is intentionally provocative…in fact, i suspect that is very much its objective, but i’ll take the bait. Here are some things that jump out:
The top 13 wines are dry.
The Mosel doesn’t make an appearance until spot 15.
Several producers that merit a lot of discussion here and elsewhere didn’t crack the top 25. Willi Schaefer at 34. Keller at 39. J.J. Prum at 50, Selbach-Oster at 56. Some top-level growers don’t appear at all, including Hofgut Falkenstein and Weiser-Kunstler. Perhaps they weren’t tasted?
The top spot went to the 100-point 2017 Donnhoff Nahe Dellchen GG. However, another Donnhoff 100-point wine, the 2017 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Auslese Goldkapsel, didn’t crack the top 100. I’m basing the 100-point score on K&L’s website, but maybe that is not accurate?Can somebody with a subscription verify this score?
While other grape varieties are represented, including Pinot and Weissburgunder, Riesling is still king.
I know these top-100 lists are a bit cheeky, but a top-100 list of German wines…well that’s pretty cool! I’m curious to know what others think.
#8 is a Spatburgunder GG- not so sure you classify such as dry. It is nice to see some Pinot on the list though as they are a very nice and reasonably priced expression of the grape.
As for Keller, the article stated that most of his GGs didn’t get sampled but clearly would have taken all the top spots.
As these things are ridiculously subjective, hard to debate a man’s opinion but I would certainly concur with Wittmann Morstein as a top dry in just about any year.
The intention of GG wines is to be dry. Yes, there is some leeway on residual sugar, but it’s virtually certain that a Spätburgunder will be fully dry.
A Riesling, perhaps not, though GG normally tastes dry.
My thoughts are that 1) I haven’t tasted any of these wines so I can’t speak to whether I agree/disagree 2) There are so many German producers making such high quality wine, and much of which you don’t hear so much about in the US. And a ton of young, up-and-coming producers too. Between producer styles, residual sugar levels, botrytis, soil and regional diversity, and everything in between, I think it’s one of the most exciting wine regions in the world (I realize that I’m lumping an entire country as just one region). Admittedly, it’s probably not so exciting if you don’t like Riesling.
While I agree there are lots of new/interesting/high quality producers, only about 20 of the wines on the entire list come from producers with which I am not familiar, and for 2 of those wines I know the winemaker’s work from another winery.
I reflexively assume that all GGs are dry, but maybe there are some wines with enough residual sugar to be perceived as lightly sweet. Nevertheless, we’re still talking about a perception of sweetness that is quite apart from wines on the Pradikat scale. Luke, are you still a buyer of Wittmann Morstein as the price approaches $100/bottle?
Daniel, i agree. The complexities that many lament about German wine are what i find quite exciting.
David, i’m surprised that there are 20 on this list with whom you are not familiar (i’ve been closely following your tasting notes for a long time)! Nevertheless, this list is good exposure for the old guard and the new wave. I’m happy to find any of these producers on Atlanta shelves.
Lists like this are less useful if you don’t know what the preparer tasted and didn’t put on the list.
Nothing from any auctions? No Lieser (both Doctor wines were superb), no Julian Haart or Weisser-Kuntstler, assume the Prum 2016 was a typo but there are other recent vintages in there.
Wittmann Morstein was around $70 in the UK, I like it at that price.
In short, yes I will pay for Wittmann. I love it’s rich, textured mouthfeel. The Rheinhessen and the Pfalz are where it’s at for my dries. I have been getting recent vintages for about or less than $60 - once they sit on shelves for a few months. This has historically been a little buying trick I have found for Germany - wait a bit until retailers realize no one wants them and they cut price…lol but this time it will be different!
As for auction wines, the preface to the list specifically cited that they did not want to make a list of stuff people would not have any real chance to find.
Not that hard to find if you can be bothered (and don’t have significant shipping restrictions). Though somewhat harder by the time the list is published.
Though it’s a reasonable basis for preparation, though better to call it out maybe.
Number two seems totally unavailable in the US or UK, so I’m not sure how effective the ‘availability’ goal was.
I happened to get #2 here in the US but to fair, it was not on a wine-searcher run or a dealer’s site but from a private client list. The US still has issues with importers given many producers’ relatively small distributions and not being a super hot category. For example, I think we may have lost Burklin Wolf - or atleast they blew out the last importer’s inventory recently like a bad yard sale. Geeze I hope we don’t start getting bypassed for the Asian market in a few years.
Riesling too. The VDP explicitly states that a GG must be technically dry, i.e. maximum 9 g/l of residual sugar. At 9 g/l residual sugar some people might taste a hint of sweetness, but not really enough for the wine to appear even off-dry, just not bone-dry.
these wines are called dry but contain more or less residual sugar. Did you try some Grosses Gewächs? IMO most of them are absolutely balanced and not sour.
Luke, i will seek out some Wittmann bottlings (not that this was your goal!). I’ve long enjoyed Gunderloch’s Pradikat wines from Rheinhessen, but i have relatively little experience with GGs from the region.
Howard, i remember listening to Levi Dalton’s IDTT with Stuart Pigott in which he (Stuart) made a pitch for drier Rieslings vis-a-vis Theise’s preference for wine with more discernible residual sugar. No doubt that this list is emblematic of Pigott’s palate…and why not, it’s his list. So, while i certainly share your palate preference for the Pradikat wines, it would be a mistake, as Juergen points out, to discount the drier style altogether. For what it’s worth, i recently tasted the 2016 Schlossgut Diel Schlossberg Erste Lage, which is a dry wine. It was easily among the top 2016s that i have sampled.
you should take into consideration that Stuart Pigott selected the Top 100 not only based on quality, BUT also based on
availability.
“Our Top 100 lists are not designed to frustrate you, rather to point you in the direction of the most exciting wines currently available in the market”
Pigott combines quality with availability for this top 100 list. Keller’s Pettenthal got 100/100 also from Pigott , even his Nierstein village was rated 95 but not in the list as it’s very hard to get.
Also Julian Haarts Auslese Schubertslay is not on the list despite fact that it got 100/100 by Stuart, as the production is very low.
Stuart Pigott explained in a German Facebook group, that only wines with enough quantity in the export market have been considered. This explains why so many Auslesen are missing.