Hey my Berlin/German connection!!!
Yes, I have some tips for you to consider from one of my favourite wine shops in Germany: Mövenpick weinkeller. There is one in Mitte on leipziger str just near Hausvogteiplatz.
Mövenpick has a chain of massive wine shops around Germany and can be a daunting wine snob looking place for newcomers.
Be strong as it isn’t,,, the people there are friendly and by no means pushy. Apart from a great selection of wines (no €2 supermarket wines here,,,but I was rarely disappointed by anything I got from there)…they normally have about 30 wines sitting open on a tasting table for you to try. That’s right just sitting there waiting foryou. So just grab a glass, take a (conservative) pour and taste it. Nobody will annoy you, nobody will do the pressure sell.
It is one of the best places to try different wines and get an idea of what you like…free! If you want to go back, probably better to at least pick up something.
But what? well, they have a Mövenpick “wine stars” catalogue out for July/August 2011 and I have some things for you to try:
GOLD: Pesquera Crianza 2008- €15.80 Ribera Del Duero, Spain
Pesquera is a world-class super hero producer from Spain. The wine maker Alejandro Fernandez is a big name in Spanish wine and puts his name on several different wines…all of top quality. The Gran Reserva and Reserva of Pesquera are recognised as top league players. If you want to get an idea of benchmark good spanish red, at least go to the store and try this.
To get an idea of the value, this wine retails for around $100 (75€) in Australia.
What to say while drinking it ” Mitch is going to be so jealous, let’s take a photo and post it just to piss him off”
SILVER:2009 Panamera Chardonnay,Story Ridge Vineyards California, €6.90
It is (apparently) summer over in Germany and you will undoubtedly need a good wine to take to the park for a barbecue with friends. Here it is. A tropical fruit salad deep-fried in vanilla cream, this is a better buy than any of the aldi/lidl stuff and definitely worth the extra few euros stepping up from the supermarket stuff.
This is one where people will say “oh that tastes nice” and you will say “oh yeah, california chardonnay is just great for the summer”
BRONZE: 2009 Schieferterrassen Riesling QbA trocken, Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein €15.80
No secret that I am a riesling fan, and I like Heymann Löwenstein wines so much it even made the cut in the select few bottles in my suitcase when I came back to Australia. It is a small family place using very natural traditional winemaking methods and selling for well below the price they should be.
Alright, I know, most non-wine nerds would think twice before spending over €10 on a white wine, but if you wanna get an idea of how classy German riesling is then get on this. Good rieslings will typically show apple, apricot and honey flavours and are very distinctly fresh. German riesling is generally recognised as one of the classiest white undervalued wines in the world.
Tip for German Wine:
Trocken (dry) just means “not sweet”, NOT as in “it dries your mouth”. If a German riesling (QbA, Spätlese whatever) does not have the words “Trocken” on it, assume it will be more honey sweet (but not sugary sickly).
Tip for Spanish Wine:
Now what does this Crianza mean?
Once upon a time the French vineyards got a little vine termite called Phylloxera (fil-ox-er-a), and lots of frenchies moved south of the Pyrenees to help the Spaniards make wine. One big idea the Spanish loved was ageing wine in oak barrels. They loved it so much they made it the basis for their labeling system. You will see 4 things regularly:
Joven/Nothing: no or little aging, a younger, typically fruitier wine
Crianza: Aged for 2 years, at least 6 months in oak barrels.
Reserva: Aged for 3 years, at least 1 year in oak.
Gran Reserva: Only made in really good years, 5 years ageing, 18 months in oak and at least 36 months in bottle. A great way to learn about good aged wine characteristics without having to cellar yourself.
That is why you will see Spanish wines on the shelf from 2003. The problem with this system is you can take crap grapes from La Mancha, stick it in a massive 10000 litre barrel for a year, store it in a tank for 2 years then sell it a Rossman/aldi for €5 and still label it Reserva. It is not the same as a Pesquera.
- WINEDUCATION - 