The Next Big Thing?

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
originally posted by The Wine Mule:
I distinctly recall being among the cheerleaders five years ago promoting New Zealand pinot gris as the next big thing. That didn't exactly pan out, although NZ pinot gris is Big In China.

I would love to see an 11% pinot gris from anywhere. We rarely get to see dry whites under 12%, except from Gascony.
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Oddly, there is a lot of Pinot Gris planted in Germany. I think it goes into sekt or dry wines that are not marketed here. Claude?
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Usually sold under the name Grauburgunder (or Grau Burgunder or Grauer Burgunder, sometimes as a sweet wine, it goes by Rulnder, and I think there may be a few other variants it is sold under), the grape is becoming more widely planted. In 2001, there were 2905 ha planted in Germany, rising to 4382 by 2006, the last year for which I have statistics. That made it the fourth most widely-planted white grape in Germany, after Riesling, Silvaner, and Mller-Thurgau, making up 4.3% of the surface area (including reds). The regions where one is most likely to encounter it are Baden (big surprise! It is about 10% of the surface area), followed by Pfalz and Rheinhessen. It's rarely seen in the U.S.. From other regions, I've tasted nice versions from Schfer-Frhlich and Dnnhoff in the Nahe and some time ago, Bert Simon in the Saar. Not sure about most of it going into sparkling wine.

You can find plenty of lovely German tocken and halbtrocken (essentially taste dry) Rieslings from 2007 and 2008 at below 12%.
 
Many of the wine subsidies go for such wonderful and practical things as buying in unsalable wine for distillation. Eric and JPB probably don't qualify, and their production costs are way too high for it to work for them.

Who was it who was telling me that in Anjou or the Touraine there was a subsidy for replanting grapes over to clones instead of massale? One euro per vine, something like that? But you couldn't get it if you used your own good material.

Oops, ET and JPB lose out again.

As the guy in the soda shop said, big government and big business find it easy to deal with each other. Eric, if you want a good subsidy, you'd better join a co-op.
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
originally posted by The Wine Mule:
I distinctly recall being among the cheerleaders five years ago promoting New Zealand pinot gris as the next big thing. That didn't exactly pan out, although NZ pinot gris is Big In China.

I would love to see an 11% pinot gris from anywhere. We rarely get to see dry whites under 12%, except from Gascony.
Click to expand...

Oddly, there is a lot of Pinot Gris planted in Germany. I think it goes into sekt or dry wines that are not marketed here. Claude?
Click to expand...

The best area for Grauburgunder is Baden, where they are even allowed to classify them as Grosses Gewaechs (Hessische Bergstrasse has that right as well, but nothing remarkable from there). The top wines have been a bit high in alcohol in recent years, but there are usually plenty of fresh and lively simpler wines at reasonable alcohol content. Definitely by average much better wines than the crappy Pinot Grigio most Germans love to drink. Not much is exported though.
 
I like grisbauerhof's grauburgunder from Bolzano. Has lots of ripeness with low enough alcohol to keep you standing. Ever try that one Georg? I would love to try some of those you mentioned above, they sound cool.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Many of the wine subsidies go for such wonderful and practical things as buying in unsalable wine for distillation. Eric and JPB probably don't qualify, and their production costs are way too high for it to work for them.

Who was it who was telling me that in Anjou or the Touraine there was a subsidy for replanting grapes over to clones instead of massale? One euro per vine, something like that? But you couldn't get it if you used your own good material.

Oops, ET and JPB lose out again.

As the guy in the soda shop said, big government and big business find it easy to deal with each other. Eric, if you want a good subsidy, you'd better join a co-op.
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I think there are subsidies for replanting on American (as opposed to European) rootstalks in the Mosel.
 
originally posted by Matteo Mollo:
I like grisbauerhof's grauburgunder from Bolzano. Has lots of ripeness with low enough alcohol to keep you standing. Ever try that one Georg? I would love to try some of those you mentioned above, they sound cool.
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I have not tried it. But overall their stuff is usually good.
I don't have much Grauburgunder here right now (only the Franz Keller Selection A, which is similar in weight to a Grosse Gewaechs and sees wood), but I will bring a few from my christmas trip.
 
originally posted by Putnam Weekley:
I've been looking for Spaetburgunder from Staufener Schlossberg (Markgraeferland) since 1990. Any help?
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Well, it exists. But until recently there was no really good winery in Staufen. Now there is a relatively young winery run by Achim Jaehnisch in that neighborhood and he has vineyards in the Schlossberg in Staufen. Not sure but I would assume their Spaetburgunder is grown there (though might not be written on the label). This is a winery I have been curious to try for a while. http://www.weingut-jaehnisch.de/
 
It might have been these guys.

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www.weingut-wiesler.de

Whatever it was - to my tender 23 year old palate - the Spaetburgunder Aulsese Trocken tasted pretty good. Sure. It was probably crap. Why is memory trapped in mushy grey pudding?
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by The Wine Mule:
We rarely get to see dry whites under 12%, except from Gascony.
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?
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Domaine de Pouy, Tariquet, Ballade, Alain Lalanne...all Ctes de Gascogne, all relatively light in alcohol. Here in the Land of Rombauer, wines like these are something of a novelty.
 
The soil is full of limestone, and when you talk to the winemakers they are all excited because they say the soil is identical to that in Burgundy.
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Well hot damn! There are large swaths of Kentucky and Missouri that have limestone under their dirt, so I suppose those are 'Burgundian' in aspect too. Oh wait, Missouri alread is a fine wine growing area.

And I suppose the karst areas of China and Vietnam would also be ideal spots as well?
 
originally posted by The Wine Mule:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by The Wine Mule:
We rarely get to see dry whites under 12%, except from Gascony.
Click to expand...

?
Click to expand...

Domaine de Pouy, Tariquet, Ballade, Alain Lalanne...all Ctes de Gascogne, all relatively light in alcohol. Here in the Land of Rombauer, wines like these are something of a novelty.
Click to expand...
Not only a novelty, but really good too. I think the better Gascon white blends are some of the best QPR wines in the world right now. Charles Neal is bringing in some really nice versions.
 
Fillay: That makes sense that NAFTA would prevent duties on US wines that dont apply to Canadian wines, but Im pretty sure the LCBO still prices Ontario wines more aggressively. Maybe theres just less of a retail markup on the Canadian/Ontario wines?

Claude: thats what I guessed. Thanks for confirming.

MarkS: I have a similar response to the claims about limestone. I only meant to say that the wine makers there think its a big deal.

By the way, Jancis Robinson also seems to think Prince Edward County might be The Next Big Thing: http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a200908181.html
 
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