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Our »Hidden Champion« in the Golden Autumn
We've already told you a lot about our premium Rieslings, the incredibly powerful piwi Cabernet Blanc, and the special features of our winery. But we haven't mentioned one small, humble wine yet:
And to be honest, we hadn't really considered it. It's one of our entry-level wines , priced at €6.50 per bottle (1.0 l), making it one of our most affordable wines.
But last week, our Portugieser Weißherbst jumped into the spotlight with a real bang, pushing other wines with a price point of just under 20 euros right and left of the stage and sparkling so brightly that it was a joy: For this small, little-noticed wine won the very highest award at the DLG Federal Wine Awards:
Gold Extra
This is, so to speak, the Oscar of winemakers,
There is no higher award.
There is no higher award.
We'd like to tell you more about the Federal Wine Awards in a moment, but first, as befits a true laudation, we'd like to introduce you to the Portugieser Weißherbst:
Have you ever heard of a " false friend "? These are words in a foreign language that sound exactly like the German word, but unfortunately mean something completely different. The English adjective "sympathetic" is one such example. It certainly doesn't mean "sympathetic," as a gullible German might assume. No, it means "compassionate, understanding." Not quite the same. It's similar with the name of our hidden champion, the hidden hero, because it's riddled with "false friends":
First of all, the grape variety with the blue-red grapes doesn't come from Portugal (as the name suggests), but from what is now Slovenia. Ages ago, someone got the geography mixed up, and once you lose your name in a tradition-loving industry like winemaking, it's there to stay. Period. Sorry, Slovenia.
Furthermore, it's not a white wine, but a rosé. And to complete the confusion, the name has nothing to do with autumn either. Instead, the word "autumn" was probably originally "Arbst," and only people from Baden know what that means. We certainly don't.
So now we've learned what Portugieser Weißherbst isn't. But what exactly is this mysterious wine variety?
First of all, Weißherbst is a purely German thing. You can rave about Weißherbst to the French, Italians, Spaniards, etc. on vacation, but they'll probably never have tasted it and will be jealous of the secret delicacies you get served here.
Our Portugieser Weissherbst is a very special rosé wine. A conventional rosé can be a blend of various grapes. This is different with a Weissherbst. This can only be made from a single grape variety, and this grape variety must be named accordingly (in a specific size, of course, how could it be otherwise) on the back of the label. As mentioned, we chose red Portugieser grapes for our Weissherbst at our winery.
And last but not least, only seven specific German wine-growing regions are permitted to produce Weißherbst: the Palatinate, Baden, Ahr, Franconia, Württemberg, Rheingau, and Rheinhessen. So, if someone offers you a Weißherbst from Saxony, you can skillfully expose them as a charlatan with a condescending smile.
So, now to the Federal Wine Awards! This is the " leading quality competition for German wines and sparkling wines " and " the highest honor that German wine and sparkling wine producers can receive for their quality achievements "—to quote the press report.
Each winemaker can decide for themselves which wines to present to the highly critical jury. So, every year, we stand before the new harvest, chew our lower lips thoughtfully, and carefully consider which gems we'll enter for the Graf von Weyher winery. The "entry fee" is currently €140 per bottle.
Then comes the first round of testing!
This is all about what's known as "regional typicity" (nice term, please remember!). For this, the wines are first sorted by region and then blind-tasted, focusing on a single characteristic: Do they taste as they should for their region? In concrete terms, this means: Even if a Riesling from the Palatinate tastes like a fabulously good Mosel Riesling, it's out. There's no messing around. Every wine must be typical of its region.
The second round of testing:
Only those who pass the first test are allowed to proceed to the second round. The jury consists of a pool of specially trained examiners from various regions in Germany.
There are four to five tasters per category. There's a strict tasting scheme according to which each wine is assessed for appearance, aroma, taste, typicality (there we go again!), and more. A maximum of five points are awarded.
The first round is spent drinking in silence. We imagine it to be almost sacred. The examiners are all wearing white coats and stand at long tables in vast halls, sniffing, tasting, savoring, and judging.
Once everyone has awarded their points, the results are discussed, and all the examiners explain to each other, using a table of characteristics and technical terms, why they rated the wine this way or that. We're just desperately wondering what would happen if one of the five people claimed the wine tasted like seawater and everyone else thought it was great. Is it like an English jury, where everyone has to work together until they reach a consensus, and they can't leave until they reach a consensus?
We'd love to be a spy during the trial and witness a battle of briefings. But whatever the case, the jury will eventually reach a consensus.
Photo: DLG taste profile of our Portugieser Weißherbst
The third round of testing
And then only the wines that have received a gold award with excellent scores go into the third round: the test for Gold Extra, the crème de la crème .
And that's exactly where our little Portugieser Weißherbst took the cake in its category this year, knocking all the others out of the running! We're truly proud of it. Anyone who wants to try it should hurry, because stocks are already quite limited.
A real shower of gold
We've talked so much about Gold Extra and the Portugieser Weißherbst, but our wines have (once again) won numerous awards. No fewer than 14 of our wines have been awarded gold medals!
To celebrate this with you, we have a
»Gold package« put together for you:
All 14 gold award winners – plus a bottle of Riesling sparkling wine to toast and enjoy!
»Gold package« put together for you:
All 14 gold award winners – plus a bottle of Riesling sparkling wine to toast and enjoy!
These are the 2024 Gold winners:
Premium wines:
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2023 Granit Riesling dry
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2023 Limestone Mergel Riesling dry
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2023 Slate Riesling dry
Gourmet wines:
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2023 Sauvignon Blanc dry
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2023 Cabernet blanc dry (yes, our celebrated piwi wine is also at the top!)
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2022 & 2023 Chardonnay dry
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2022 Riesling Kabinett
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2023 Blanc de Noir
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2023 Muscat
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2022 G.punkt Rosé dry
Bottle wines:
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2023 Riesling dry 1 liter
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2023 Scheurebe mild 1 liter
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2023 Portugieser Weißherbst mild 1 liter
This means that almost all of our Riesling wines in all categories have been awarded a gold medal. Yes, Riesling is our expertise – and we are truly proud of that.
We are one of the best wineries in Germany
This slew of medals has qualified us for the top league of Germany's best wineries. This achievement was recognized with the bronze medal in the Federal Honor Award. We'd like to share with you the quote with which we were presented with the medals:
" The Federal Honorary Award winners in the wine and sparkling wine categories stand for excellent quality work and incomparable moments of enjoyment. With the utmost care and craftsmanship, they succeed in translating the terroir, climate, and characteristics of their region into unique, compelling wines and sparkling wines. The Federal Honorary Award winners are both guardians of German wine culture and visionaries who carry it into the future – with creativity, a spirit of innovation, and a deep understanding of what defines wine: enjoyment, community, and the connection to one's homeland. " Freya von Czettritz, CEO of DLG Holding.
Yes, that's how it is.
Your golden-blessed counts
Get the award-winning collection while it's still fully available!
Liebe Grafen,
mittlerweile dürfen wir eure guten Tropfen schon seit über 10 Jahren genießen. Heute ist das Goldpaket eingetroffen auf das wir uns auch sehr freuen. Bei unseren Urlauben in der Südpfalz probieren wir ja immer etwas Neues. Ich glaube es gibts nicht Vielfältiges als gutes Essen und guten Wein.
Wenn wir dann eure Weine wieder trinken ist das wie geschmacklich nach Hause zu kommen. Und das Weingeplauder ob per mail oder Buch rundet das Ganze ab.
Wir wünschen euch weiterhin die fleißigen Hände, den Sachverstand, die Unterstützung der Natur und vor allem viel Spaß um die tollen Weine zu erzeugen.
Mit den besten Grüßen
[…] herzliche Glückwünsche zu euren hohen Auszeichnungen und Medaillen! Das habt ihr aber auch wirklich verdient für eure Spitzenweine!
Natürlich war Deine Rundmail jetzt auch eine Motivation für eine Bestellung. […]
Herzlichen Glückwünsch, liebe Grafen!
Da sind wir ja froh, dass wir im September schon einen Karton vom Champion mitgenommen haben.
Wir freuen uns schon auf die „Goldlieferung“ (haben gleich bestellt 😊) und werden sie nach und nach genießen.
Herzliche Grüße aus Osnabrück
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