Germany & Austria Red
2015: Gold 2 Silver 3 Bronze 0 Commended 1
2014: Gold 2 Silver 8 Bronze 4 Commended 3
Last year’s red section here was one of the most exciting areas of the competition, with a plethora of fantastic food-friendly wines in a variety of styles, mostly from Austria. This year, the country took a step back with its reds (vintage reasons, perhaps?), leaving Germany to take centre stage.
With an absence of Blaufränkisch’s and Zweigelts, the result was a section dominated by Pinot Noir – or Spätburgunder if you want to go native. Prices were high, as you’d expect, but our tasters could see a definite use for this more savoury style – particularly with the pricing in Burgundy where it is.
Star Performer
Congratulations to Franz Keller for picking up Golds for both a Wiessburgunder and a Spätburgunder
From the Tasting Teams
‘There’s great versatility in these wines. Many can go with a number of fish dishes, while some wines would be more suited to specific matches, but all of these have broad food-matching flexibility.’ Hamish Anderson, The Tate Group
‘In terms of Pinot Noir versus Spätburgunder, my feeling is that the Germans should fall into line with the rest of the world, so that the consumer can understand what it is.’ Chris Wood, Chelsea Vintners
‘Germany can be a very good alternative to the uneven offer of Burgundy.’ Morgan VanderKamer, Stanley’s Dublin
‘These are good food wines: fresh, savoury styles of wine that would work well with a range of meat dishes.’ Richard Brooks, Caroline Catering
‘There was a big range of pricing and some of the wines were very expensive. You can play at these higher price-points, but you need to do something really interesting.’ Vittorio Gentile, Theo Randall at The InterContinental Hotel