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2,600 wines competed in the world’s largest Riesling competition – Rhineland-Palatinate Minister Wissing presented the awards
The winners of the largest Riesling competition in the world have been announced. A 100-member expert jury tasted and evaluated more than 2,600 Rieslings from 14 counties, 3 continents, and 27 wine regions. Held under the patronage of the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Winegrowing, the event once again impressively demonstrated why it is the world’s most important international competition for Riesling.
The event’s patron, Minister Dr Volker Wissing (Deputy Minister-President of the Rhineland-Palatinate and Minister of Economy, Traffic, Agriculture and Winegrowing), was on hand today in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse to award the winners of each category.
In addition to prizes in eight categories, special awards were also presented for the best European Riesling, the best New World Riesling, and the best Riesling for retail distribution. Additionally, three vintners were also awarded the ProRiesling Producer Prize for their exceptional collections.
“The quality of this year’s competition shows that Riesling is one of the world’s most versatile and high-quality white wine grapes”, said Christoph Meininger, publisher and organiser of the competition. “Our judges closely examined a vast array of wine styles — from simple estate Rieslings to complex single vineyard Rieslings to rare noble sweet wines. We are especially happy that so many international vintners chose to participate and enter their wines in a competition held in Germany, the home country of Riesling”, he added.
In a preliminary round, wines were first tasted by a panel of Riesling experts that included oenologists, distributors, sommeliers, wine researchers and wine journalists.
A master jury of international experts then tasted the best Rieslings from each category.
Most of the wines in this year’s competition came from Germany’s Palatinate region, followed by Rheinhessen, the Mosel, and the Rheingau. Entries from abroad included Rieslings from Austria, France and Luxembourg, as well as overseas countries such as Australia, the United States and New Zealand.
The international Best of Riesling competition was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture Rhineland-Palatinate and is now in its 11th year. Five years ago, the Meininger Verlag took over the event and organisation of the competition. Since 2015, Best of Riesling has partnered the ProRiesling Association, which awards the ProRiesling Producer Prize as part of the competition.
The winners and the top 100 wines of this year’s competition will be featured in the July issue of Meiningers Weinwelt. You can now find all the award-winning Riesling on MEININGER ONLINE at www.meininger.de/en
This year's Best of Riesling 2016 winners are:
Category I – Dry Riesling with moderate alcohol content (up to 12 % vol.)
1st place
2015 Einfach Keuper Riesling trocken
Weingut Markus Meier, Ulsenheim (Franken)
2nd place
2015 Ruppertsberger Riesling VDP.Ortswein trocken
Weingut Geheimer Rat Dr von Bassermann-Jordan, Deidesheim (Pfalz)
3rd place
2015 Riesling trocken
Weingut Schloss Reinhartshausen, Erbach-Eltville (Rheingau)
Category II – Dry single (vineyard) Riesling with moderate alcohol content (up to 12 % vol.)
1st place
2015 Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Kabinett trocken
DLR Staatsweingut mit Johannitergut, Neustadt-Mußbach (Pfalz)
2nd place
2015 Ayler Kupp Riesling Hochgewächs trocken
Margarethenhof Weingut Weber, Ayl/Saar (Mosel)
3rd place
2015 Trittenheimer Altärchen Riesling Kabinett trocken
Weingut Loersch, Leiwen-Zummethöhe (Mosel)
Category III – Dry Riesling
1st place
2015 Siefersheimer Riesling Porphyr VDP.Ortswein trocken
Weingut Wagner Stempel, Siefersheim (Rheinhessen)
2nd place
2014 Klangwerk Riesling vum Helle trocken
Weingut Alexander Gysler, Alzey (Rheinhessen)
3rd place
2013 Riesling de nos domaines de Riquewihr
Dopff-Au-Moulin, Riquewihr (Elsass, Frankreich)
Category IV – Dry single vineyard Riesling
1st place
2014 Steingrüben Riesling GG VDP.Grosse Lage trocken
Weingut Dautel, Bönnigheim (Württemberg)
2nd place
2015 Hochheimer Kirchenstück Riesling Spätlese trocken
Weingut W. J. Schäfer, Hochheim (Rheingau)
3rd place
2015 Birkweiler Am Dachsberg Riesling VDP.Erste Lage trocken
Weingut Dr Wehrheim, Birkweiler (Pfalz)
Category V – Riesling semi-dry
1st place
2015 Hattenheim Wisselbrunnen Riesling Kabinett feinherb
Weingut Schloss Reinhartshausen, Erbach-Eltville (Rheingau)
2nd place
2015 Edition M.k. Riesling feinherb
Weingut F J Regnery, Klüsserath (Mosel)
3rd place
2015 Spitalsiegel Würzburger Stein Riesling Kabinett VDP.Erste Lage
Bürgerspital zum Hl. Geist, Würzburg (Franken)
Category VI – Riesling fruity sweet
1st place
2015 Crescentia Steinberger Riesling Spätlese
Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach, Eltville (Rheingau)
2nd place
2015 Hochheimer Königin Victoriaberg Riesling Spätlese VDP.Grosse Lage Weingut Joachim Flick, Flörsheim (Rheingau)
3rd place
2015 Wickerer Nonnberg Riesling Spätlese VDP.Grosse Lage
Weingut Joachim Flick, Flörsheim (Rheingau)
Category VII – Riesling noble sweet
1st place
2015 Walsheimer Silberberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
Karl Pfaffmann Erben, Walsheim (Pfalz)
2nd place
2015 Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
Weingut Geheimer Rat Dr von Bassermann-Jordan, Deidesheim (Pfalz)
3rd place
2015 Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Weingut Matthias Müller, Spay (Mittelrhein)
Category VIII – Riesling aged (vintage 2008 and older)
1st place
2005 Schloss Fürstenberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
Weingut Weingart, Spay (Mittelrhein)
2nd place
2007 Haardt Riesling trocken
Weingut Müller-Catoir, Neustadt-Haardt (Pfalz)
3rd place
2004 Riesling Kabinett trocken
Weingut Felix Waldkirch, Rhodt (Pfalz)
Special awards
Best European Riesling
2010 Silberbichl Kremstal Reserve Riesling
Weingut Malat, Palt / Krems (Kremstal, Austria)
Best New World Riesling
2012 St Andrews Clare Valley Riesling
Wakefield/Taylors Wines, Auburn (South Australia)
Best Riesling for retail distribution
2015 Edition Valentin Vogel Riesling trocken
MEJS - Die Weinspezialisten, Bad Bergzabern (Pfalz)
ProRiesling – Producer Prize
1st place Weingut Schloss Reinhartshausen, Rheingau
2nd place Weingut Matthias Müller, Mittelrhein
3rd place Weingut W. J. Schäfer, Rheingau
For further information, please visit: www.best-of-riesling.de, www.meininger.de/en
About Meininger Verlag:
MEININGER VERLAG, founded in Neustadt / Weinstrasse in 1903, is one of Germany’s oldest specialist publishers and is managed by the fourth generation of the Meininger family. The company mainly specialises in publications for the wine and beverage industry and is the European leader in this field. The company also organizes trade shows, industry events and congresses.
Meininger Verlag has an international reputation due to the Grand International Wine Award MUNDUS VINI to which nearly 10,000 wines are submitted per year. Moreover, the media company organizes other wine competitions such as the Meiningers Rotweinpreis (award for German red wines) and Meiningers Deutscher Sektpreis (award for German sparkling wines).
Press contact:
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