Back in the 1970s, many of Germany’s best wine-growing regions were cultivated for mass production, with familiar names like Blue Nun and Liebfraumilch aimed particularly at the British market. It was big business, and it was not necessarily run with quality in mind.

However in time, as palates became increasingly more sophisticated, those wines were shunned by the majority, and they started to disappear from the supermarkets.

In the 1980s young and dynamic winemakers started to take over the family estates, many of them having studied wine-making and travelled wine regions of the world to see other vinifying techniques. They set about repairing the worldwide damage that had been done to the reputation of German wines by starting to modernise, building new cellars, introducing new equipment, and they also began to plant international grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer very successfully. Also red varieties such as Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon were cultivated alongside the more indigenous grape varieties such as Riesling and Sylvaner.

The winemakers are now the shining stars in wine production today, particularly in the Palatinate Region, that 80km stretch of land that is a continuation of the Alsace’s Vosges mountains from France, along the banks of the Rhine.

The climate here is much like that of Alsace and with it being one of the sunniest and driest of all wine regions in Germany one can indulge not only in an awe-inspiring array of beautiful handcrafted wines but also tropical fruits such as figs and citrus fruit and beautiful almond trees which are a sign of a mild climate. The vineyards are planted on various soil formations and a combination of sandstone and volcanic soil  and with the Mediterranean climate it is no wonder that beautiful wines are made here, full bodied, big and robust and there is almost no soil here that vines cannot be cultivated on.

Even the Romans discovered the advantages of such a mild climate by cultivating vines alongside the slopes of the Palatinate Forest. Roman cellars and pressing houses have been discovered in the region, and have made it a very rewarding destination for tourists of all interests, and not just for wine enthusiasts.

Wunderbar links:

www.germanwineagencies.co.uk

The German Wine Route

More on the Palatinate and other wine-growing regions

From time to time you can trust Germans to know where their country is at its best. West of the Rhine and right next to France, the much-beloved German Wine Route in the Palatinate (Pfalz) region runs through the country’s second largest wine growing area. Starting in Bockenheim in the north it works its way down south for 83 km and ends in Schweigen, right on the French border.

The German Wine Route is the oldest scenic route in the country, and the region it passes through is enchanting throughout most of the year. In spring, when the almond trees lining the road are in bloom; in August when the route is closed for car traffic for one day to give cyclists free reign. Or in late summer and early autumn when wine festivals take place virtually every weekend in one of the villages along the route.

Knowing about wine is not an exception but the rule

These qualities have attracted a long list of famous names. Visitors to Deidesheim, for example, will be joining a list that includes the Queen, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Václav Havel. Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, a native of the Palatinate region, introduced all his state visitors to the delights of German wine and local food with a gourmet twist at the five-star Deidesheimer Hof restaurant and hotel. And at Edenkoben King Ludwig I of Bavaria built himself a little castle, now known as Villa Ludwigshöhe. Neustadt and its Hambach Castle have played their part on the national stage, too, because this is where the 1832 Hambacher Fest (Hambach Festival) marked the birth of democracy in Germany.

But back to the wine. Dr. Bürklin-Wolf, Reichsrat v. Buhl or Bassermann Jordan are some of the renowned traditional estates along the Wine Route, known for their high-quality products and the famous Palatinate Riesling. Some of them open their cellars – huge and cave-like structures – to visitors, and being guided through the systems of tunnels is both spooky and fascinating. But it is also worth seeking out some of the younger winemakers in the region, especially those who engage in organic winemaking and continue their family tradition in 21^st century fashion.

This region is often described as Germany’s Tuscany, because the climate is mild enough for all kinds of curious things such as a kiwifruit plantation in the wine village of Maikammer. But let’s not compare this place to somewhere else in the world. Visitors should not come here and look for Tuscany, but to admire characteristic little villages like St Martin, a picture-perfect German wine village with timber-framed houses, gazebos, gables and high round archways.

For some the route may have a Mediterranean touch, particularly in its southern section, but actually this is simply a little corner of Germany where the sun maybe shines a bit more often than in other parts, and where drinking and knowing about wine is not an exception but the rule.