WINE COLUMN

German wines score highly with critics

Multi-award winning German wine merchant, The WineBarn, have recently had the honour of having many of the wines in their diverse portfolio score very highly when reviewed by the famous British wine critic Jancis Robinson’s talented and expressive wine writer Tamlyn Currin. The WineBarn recommend three very different wines for you to try this summer...

WINEMAKER: BECKER WINE: 2017 ST. PAUL SPÄTBURGUNDER

GRAND CRU DRY

REGION: PFALZ £81.40 PER BOTTLE Tamlyn scored this wine at 18 out of 20.

She describes this Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) as, “Pink peppercorns, barrel spices, toasted chestnut, coconut, black olives. The nose is rococo, dramatic, and I was a little bit intimidated. Was this going to be a Becker chest- drumming show of power? Quite the opposite, and I was undone. One sip filled my mouth with this exquisitely gentle, pure-throated, nightingale song of sweet, limpid, pink-red fruit. Such a story of contrast! Roses and cherries, dimples and deep, deep pools of glowing fruit. Magical, suspense-filled; a thousand stories in every sip. The liquid version of One Thousand And One Nights? But still quintessentially Becker, and all this luminous fruit comes between the towering pillars of great, chewy tannins. It’s an awesome wine, and I mean that in every sense of the word.”

WINEMAKER: JAKOB SCHNEIDER WINE: 2020 NIEDERHÄUSER KLAMM

RIESLING EISWEIN

REGION: NAHE £59.30 PER HALF BOTTLE (0,375L) Tamlyn scored this wine at 18.5 out of 20.

She describes this Eiswein (Ice Wine) as, “Strikingly long and elegant. So exquisite it’s hard to describe. Iris perfume. Guava nectar. Blueberries. Green figs when they’re dripping their sticky nectar like wild honey on a hot stone wall. And then this exquisitely fine racy silver wire acidity. Just wow. Sometimes words won’t do.”

WINEMAKER: K. F. GROEBE WINE: 2019 AULERDE RIESLING GRAND CRU

DRY

REGION: NAHE £46.40 PER BOTTLE Tamlyn scored this wine at 18 out of 20.

She describes this Riesling Premier Cru as, “Broad in the mouth, wide, fans out and is loose-knit. Yet on the finish, the acidity tightens up very quickly, snaps into intentional focus. The finish is fantastic: power and fanfare, and mouth-watering. The fruit is succulent, sensuous, but even with the breadth and lavish spread, there is diamond-cutter precision in the acidity. Glorious.”

Becker‘s Kammerberg vineyard in the Pfalz region of Germany. Photo: Becker To find your new favourite German wine, you can contact the awardwinning merchant The WineBarn now. Visit: www.thewinebarn.co.uk Call: 0044 (0)1962 761 215 Email: wine@thewinebarn.co.uk

Iris Ellmann is the managing director of The WineBarn, a multi-award-winning wine merchant that has been importing premium German wines to the UK for over 20 years. The WineBarn team lives, breathes and loves wine.

Photo: Iris Ellmann