I had to do a double take at the price of this wine (it’s on offer until next week), given that it’s a Riesling from one of the Mosel’s best producers and vineyards. But ours not to reason why and all that. This is the perfect summer apéritif, all crunchy green apples and peachy sweetness. Wonderfully refreshing at just 8% alcohol, it has spicy undertones, slatey minerality and a beautiful embrace between tangy acidity and 38 grams of residual sugar.
Country: Germany
2020 Heinrich Spindler 3 Trauben, Pfalz
( £11.95, 12%, The Wine Society )The name of this intriguing wine from the Pfalz region of Germany – three grapes in English – refers to the unusual combination of varieties it contains – Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, which are rarely combined. The result is a fresh, tangy, perfumed white with grapefruit, lime and lychee flavours, subtle wet stone top notes, lots of acidity and zip and a satisfyingly dry finish.
2021 M&S Found Weißburgunder, Pfalz
( £9.50, 12.5%, Marks & Spencer )Gerd Stepp, the winemaker behind the very tasty Found Pfalz Pinot Blanc (aka Weißburgunder) used to be a buyer at Marks & Spencer but is now back in his native Germany sourcing wines like this one. Creamy and textured, with some weight from lees contact in tank, flavours of pear, quince and wet stones and a fresh, palate-cleansing finish.
Wines That Stop You In Your Tracks
by Harry Eyres
There are pieces of music that stop me in my tracks. I mean that quite literally, as I do a lot of my listening to music while driving. I recall...
Dreadful Weather, Decent Wine
by Håvard Flatland
“Excuse me sir, would you like to try this wine? It’s from a crap vintage.” Hardly a selling point, if you as a waiter want to keep your job. Wine...
2020 Weinhaus Sauvignon Blanc Kalkstein, Pfalz
( £7.49 until July 12th, 12.4%, Waitrose )A white wine for Pouilly-Fumé lovers on a budget, especially at the reduced price until next month, this brilliant Sauvignon Blanc comes from the German Pfalz region of all places. Combining aromas of elderflower and nettles, it has a stony, gunflint-scented nose, flavours of kiwi fruit and gooseberry and a dry, racy, low-alcohol finish.
The Molton Centre Of The Earth
by Harry Eyres
A weekend or two ago I attended a gathering where a small bunch of people who like to write poetry, some of whose efforts had been gathered into a series...
Côtes de Grantham might cost the earth
by Andy Neather
As a dramatisation of climate change and crisis, it felt like a moment. I was in the Putney car park of the PR company R&R Teamwork, talking to Oz Clarke...
2018 Stepp Riesling S, Kallstadter Saumagen, Pfalz
( £15, 13.5%, Marks & Spencer )Gerd Stepp used to work at Marks & Spencer before he went back to his native Germany to make wine again. Our loss was the Pfalz’s gain, as this is one of the best dry Rieslings on the market for £15 or under. Sourced from the Kallstadter Saumagen vineyard on soils with a high percentage of limestone, it’s wonderfully racy, taut and complex with some creamy weight from six months on its fermentation lees, pithy minerality, lime, jasmine and wet stone notes and a thrilling finish.
What Heidegger teaches us about drinking and thinking
by Harry Eyres
In Monty Python’s immortal “Bruces’ Philosophers Song”, the controversial German thinker Martin Heidegger – for many one of the two greatest philosophers of the 20thcentury but tainted by his association...
The Taste of Smoke
by Harry Eyres
I write in a time of ashes. Not only have certain political dreams and projects recently gone up in smoke; the destructive fires have been raging more literally, all across...
2018 Palataia Pinot Noir, Pfalz
( £9.00, 13.5%, Marks & Spencer )Gerd Stepp used to be a buyer at Marks & Spencer, but has now gone back to his original career as a winemaker in the Pfalz. People are often surprised to learn how much Pinot Noir (aka Spätburgunder) Germany produces and just how good it can be. For Pinot lovers who’ve almost given up on finding enjoyable expressions of their beloved grape under £10, this unoaked example is a godsend: smooth, supple and strawberry fruity with crunchy acidity and a sweet core.