oh you know, it’s really a wide open avenue:
just how different Austria and Germany are in intention, process and execution
makes it worthwhile to follow the different tracks and traces…
are the best sparkling wines made in Champagne? Of course.
are the only interesting sparkling wines made in Champagne? Hell, no!
can Loire sparklers be as intersting as German/Austrian Sekt? Certainly. Chenin has much to offer when it catches a few bubbles…
There are a couple of winemakers up here (Barnaby and Olga Tuttle) who, in addition to making some kick butt wines under their Teutonic Wine Company label, also import German wines into Oregon. One of their biggest goals is to create a sekt portfolio worthy of notice. So far they are track to do just that. the sparkling wines from Immich-Anker, Schwaab-Dietz and Andreas Resch are delightful and reasonably priced. They will be bringing in more producers in the very near future.
Full disclosure, Barnaby and Olga are friends and I do business with them. But I would post this info even if I did not. It’s just nice seeing well made sekt in the US.
Yeah, we bought ours at the cellar door when we visited. I think it was between US$30-40, which is a steal, but I haven’t even attempted to get any shipped to me. I cringe at what it would be through the three-tier system.
Though there are threads discussing other German wines by grape, I thought it might be nice to resurrect this a little to discuss Sekt in general. The quality of Sekt can be wildly variable. When winemakers are just having a go at it, it can be a total lottery, but there are a number of producers now concentrating on Sekts and they tend to be more reliable hitting the mark. Here are notes from two of my favourite Mosel Sekt specialists. (I’ll drop a note on a Melsheimer next, as they would be next on my list.)
Zum Eulenturm, 2016 Riesling Zero dosage.
36 months on the lees. A classic nose of Riesling, now beginning to show some tertiary characteristics. But because of the zero dosage, not so much of the Maillard reaction, and therefore not of the sort of caramelly notes that sometimes take over older Sekts.
Instead, there’s a lovely weight in the mouth provided by the lees ageing, a little bit of a savoury saline note which hints—very vaguely—at a Muscadet cru. Then, at the end, an amazing lime-acid fizz tail. I definitely prefer the zero- and low-dosage styles in Riesling Sekt; they seem to age particularly well.
Eulenturm (from Briedel) have been doing okay commercially with Sekt and have purchased quite a few new vineyard parcels—not on the most famous sites on the old maps, like the Herzchen, but on some of the slightly less steep slopes behind the village, where they’ve planted quite a lot of young vines and are ramping up production. The trocken and sweeter Prädikat wines are also really good, but in particular Eulenturm are strong with the sparkling wines, always taking the vintage into account when determining ageing and dosage.
Philip Bender 2020 Chardonnay Brut Nature.
Lemon and lightly toasted bread. Feels touched by the warmth of the vintage and could maybe use a bit more acidity to carry it, but it still very pure and refreshing. Not a bottle that will last long once opened!
The estate has shifted in recent years: the father worked locally transforming still wine into Sekt for other growers. The current generation have taken on vineyards around Enkirch and are now working as growers and as winemakers. They are very nice people, and very hard working - always promoting thier wines local events.
I’ve had Dönnhoff and Emrich-Schönleber’s and they both need more time. They’re only going to get better with time
This post popping up is timely. I was literally just putting away my Berserker Day order of Sekt from Tupetz. TBH, I’ve had very little exposure to German sparklers so looking forward to digging in over the summer. Might pop one later if SC women pull off the win though they seem to need some help right now.
Thank you @LisaT
A couple of months ago I had a fantastic bottle of Sekt from Melsheimer. My wife was impressed by it as well.
JB Becker is best Sekt I’ve had.
I had a bottle of the 2020 Keller sekt the other day (100% riesling), which was fantastic, if on the young side. Easily better than many of the champagnes on the same list. I taste sekts quite regularly and outside of France it’s pretty much the only country I drink sparkling wine from. Raumland and Lauer make fine wines, as already mentioned, but you get excellent sekts from a lot of producers that are better known for still wine; Mosebacher and Breuer have been very good in recent memory. Felix Keller also makes a nice rose that’s quite reasonable.
I have not had much Riesling Sekt that have impressed me. From Germany I had a Peter Lauer that was excellent. Can’t recall the vintage. And to expand from Sekt to sparkling Riesling in general, a Ravines last year (2020) was also excellent. Raumland is still great, and I really like Griesel’s champagne cepage cuvees.
