It occurred to me the other day that I see here almost nothing on the wines of Franconia.
Even Buecker doesn’t review them. WhyZat?? You almost never see them on the shelves at retail.
Is it because they produce so little Riesling?? Is it because they sometimes/oftentimes come
in those dreadful bocksbeutels that don’t fit in your racks (though, that doesn’t stop me from buying
a ton of Mateus Rose!!). Is is because people associate Franken Wines w/ GMO grapes? Is it
because the wines are crap?? Is it because so few of them are sweet?
I’ve had a few Franken wines over the yrs that I thought were pretty nice…though not the profoundness you get
in other German regions.
Help me out here, David!!! Curious minds want to know.
Tom
Pretty much this. I brought in a really delicious one from Rudi Wiest a couple of years ago. People loved it but there was just no way to rack it. I successfully sold a good chunk of it by putting it on the counter where I work and having people ask me what the hell was in the funny bottle.
Here’s a 11 y/o Scheurebe.
(3/9/19)
This unusual wine seemed right for a cull party, and turned out to be one of the most enjoyable of the many opened. Lovely nose and the palate was even more perfumed. Sweetness was legitimate kabinett level, though I’d expected more from a Scheurebe.The only flaw was a bit of bitterness on the finish, reflecting the age for this grape variety.
If I should ever see it again I’d buy more.
I love the wines but have avoided them for decades due to bottle shape. Interesting to read Claude’s note that many have moved to a more stackable bottle shape. I’ll have see what CSW has in stock.
Paul and Sebastian Fürst. (Sebastian was named Winemaker of the year in the Falstaff publication last year).
As good as it gets, from any region.
I will continue to pound the drum.
Someday more people in the US will wake up to the region’s potential/charm as a whole…
Some time ago Claude turned me on to some excellent Franconian wines. Since then I’ve bought a few from Tom Elliott’s company, Northwest Wine LTD…not to be confused with the custom crush place in Oregon. Tom carries Frohlich and Juliusspital, which I enjoy. I checked on line and see that neither K and L nor Total wine stock wines from this region.
I’ve had a couple of impressive Silvaners, comparable in quality to very serious dry Rieslings. Unfortunately the prices make them pretty unmarketable in the US ($80-$90 Silvaner GG). An importer/distributor in this area brought some in a while back, then ended up having to close out what seemed like a significant portion of what they bought. I was happy to be able to sell a $40 Silvaner for $20. I thought it was worth $40 but didn’t bring it in at the original price because I knew it would be impossible to sell. Even at $20, I ended up buying most of it myself. I jokingly called it my house Silvaner. I think I drank it once a week for a while and never tired of it a bit.
I taste a lot of wine and have very little experience with the region as a whole.
They just don’t sell on the retail end. One ‘excuse’ is the bottles don’t fit in the wine racks. The real reason is very few importers even try to bring them in. Winebow is doing a great job with a few estates, even having some of the drier Silvaners bottled in regular bottles rather than the awkward ‘bocksbeutel’. I love the Silvaners produced there - but it’s like pulling teeth getting someone to pull the trigger -