Germany eyes next stage of wine revival

(TheDrinksBusiness) - Despite the reinvigoration of the German wine industry by a younger generation, producers have highlighted a number of key problem areas that still need addressing.

Peter Winter, who bought Rheingau estate Weingut Georg Müller from the town of Eltville in 2003 is clear about the key factor driving recent improvements in wine quality.

“A lot of people realise there has been a revolution in German wine in the last 10 years, mainly because of the young generation,” he told the drinks business. “They have realised they can succeed only if they make quality wines.”

As an indication of how this younger generation – invariably trained at Geisenheim – has moved to improve standards, Frank Schönleber, who took the reins at his family business Emrich-Schönleber in 2005, outlined some of the key changes to have been implemented at the Nahe estate since the turn of the century.

“Today we are a little more selective in the vineyard and the yields are a little lower because we accept more competition in the vineyard from what grows between the vines,” he outlined. “In the first few years of this century we had to reduce a lot of fruit – green harvest was very important – but today we very often have the yields we want naturally.”