Best of Riesling 2020: The best Rieslings of the year present themselves (digital)
The best Rieslings of the year were presented today in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse (Germany). The world's largest international Riesling competition honored the best in a virtual awards ceremony. This year, a total of 2,017 wines from all the great and important Riesling growing regions of the world were tasted and evaluated.
Rieslings from the Mittelrhein region were the winners of this year's Best of Riesling competition. A total of 5 wines are among the first-placed, all from the famous steep slope Bopparder Hamm, which is divided into the individual single vineyards Engelstein, Feuerlay and Mandelstein. The two wineries Matthias Müller and Weingart from Spay, which have been successful with Best of Riesling in previous years, will be complemented this year by the up-and-coming Didinger winery from Osterspai.
Among the first-place winners are well-known names such as Weingut A. Christmann and Philipp Kuhn (both in the Palatinate), Weingut Künstler (Rheingau) or Weingut am Stein (Franconia). But also many up-and-coming wineries such as the Eymann and Johann F. Ohler wineries (both in the Palatinate) or the Didinger winery (Mittelrhein) are among the winners.
The most successful growing regions are the Palatinate with a total of 399 awards, followed by Rheinhessen (287) and the Mosel (269).
Internationally, Rieslings from Austria (43), Alsace (30), Luxembourg (11), but also the Czech Republic, Australia and Italy scored well.
Special prizes in the competition were awarded to the Horst Sauer winery (Best Steep-Slope Riesling Dry), the Cave Vinicole de Hunawihr (Best European Riesling Dry) and the Cleebronn-Güglingen cooperative (Best Riesling Dry in Food Retail).
"The vintages tasted show that the new 2019 vintage has great potential. 11 of the total 27 first-placed Rieslings come from the 2019 vintage, and 2018 is where the wheat separates from the chaff: the great Rieslings from 2018 now show that even in a vintage with a larger harvrest, real top qualities are produced," says Christian Wolf, tasting director Best of Riesling, summing up his impressions.
There was also no need to forego an award ceremony this year. This took place virtually under the moderation of tasting director Christian Wolf and Weinwelt editor-in-chief Ilka Lindemann. Even the patron of the competition, Rhineland-
Palatinate's Minister of Viticulture, Dr. Volker Wissing, did not miss the opportunity to send his congratulations to the winners in the form of a video message.
After a varied online awards ceremony, at which all the winegrowers placed on the winners' podium were personally present, they were able to meet in the "virtual Vinicombe" of the Meininger Verlag for the traditional exchange among colleagues, although this year without the opportunity to taste the winning wines of their colleagues critically.
The fact that the competition could take place at all in times of a global pandemic is due to a well-thought-out hygiene concept. This year as well, the most important German grape variety, the Riesling, could be offered a worthy platform.
On a total of 12 tasting days, the Rieslings entered for the competition were intensively tasted, evaluated and the best were awarded one of the coveted prizes. The wines were blindly tasted by a jury of experts who were very familiar with the diversity of Riesling.
"It was a great challenge for us this year to conduct Best of Riesling: On the one hand, we have taken appropriate hygiene measures to protect the health of our tasters and employees. On the other hand, we have managed to provide a professional environment for the wines in competition and for our tasters. We are delighted to finally present the winners today and to be able to make our recommendations of the best Rieslings of the year," Christian Wolf concludes.
Meininger's Weinwelt presents the first places and the best 123 Rieslings in its July issue. All award-winning Rieslings can now be found at www.best-of-riesling.com. The recording of the award ceremony can also be found there.
Best of Riesling 2020 winners
Category I – Dry Riesling (with moderate alcohol content)
1. place: 2019 Riesling Sandstein VDP.GUTSWEIN dry
winery A. Christmann, Pfalz
2. place: 2019 Gönnheimer Riesling dry
winery Eymann, Pfalz
3. place: 2019 Riesling Sandstein dry
winery Alexander Gysler, Rheinhessen
Category II – Dry single-vineyard Riesling (with moderate alcohol content)
1. place: 2018 Bernkastel Graben Riesling GG VDP.GROSSE LAGE trocken
winery Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch Erben Thanisch, Mosel
2. place: 2018 Rehbacher Steig Sommerseite Riesling trocken
winery Georg Gustav Huff, Rheinhessen
3. place: 2015 Hallgartener Jungfer Riesling GG VDP.GROSSE LAGE trocken
winery Georg Müller Stiftung, Rheingau
Category III – Dry Riesling
1. place: 2019 Escherndorf Riesling VDP.ORTSWEIN trocken
winery Rainer Sauer, Franken
2. place: 2018 Wotanfels Riesling trocken
winery Schwedhelm, Pfalz
3. place: 2018 Toreye Riesling Alte Reben trocken
winery Eymann, Pfalz
Category IV – Dry single-vineyard Riesling
1. place: 2018 Zeller Schwarzer Herrgott Riesling GG VDP.GROSSE LAGE trocken
winery Philipp Kuhn, Pfalz
2. place: 2018 Gimmeldinger Schlössel Riesling Kabinett trocken
winery Johann F. Ohler, Pfalz
3. place: 2018 Stetten Stein Riesling GG VDP.GROSSE LAGE trocken
winery am Stein, Ludwig Knoll, Franken
Category V – Medium-dry/off-dry Riesling
1. place: 2019 Bopparder Hamm Feuerley Riesling VDP.GROSSE LAGE feinherb
winery Matthias Müller, Mittelrhein
2. place: 2019 Großheppacher Steingrüble Riesling Kabinett feinherb
winery Bernhard Ellwanger, Württemberg
3. place: 2019 Bopparder Hamm Mandelstein Riesling Spätlese feinherb
winery Didinger, Mittelrhein
Category VI – sweet Riesling
1. place: 2019 Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay Riesling Spätlese
winery Didinger, Mittelrhein
2. place: 2015 Deidesheimer Leinhöhle Riesling Spätlese VDP.ERSTE LAGE
winery Reichsrat von Buhl, Pfalz
3. place: 2018 Guldentaler Hipperich Riesling Spätlese
winery Königswingert, Nahe
Category VII – noble-sweet Riesling
1. place: 2019 Bopparder Hamm Engelstein Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
winery Weingart, Mittelrhein
2. place: 2018 Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay Riesling Beerenauslese VDP.ERSTE LAGE
winery Matthias Müller, Mittelrhein
3. place: 2018 Kindenheimer Burgweg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
winery Neiss, Pfalz
1. place noble sweet: 1993 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese
winery Karl Erbes, Mosel
1. place dry: 2007 Hochheimer Hölle Riesling 'Terrasse' trocken
winery Künstler, Rheingau
2. place dry: 2012 Dürkheimer Spielberg Z Riesling trocken
winery Egon Schmitt, Pfalz
Special awards
Best Dry European Riesling
2019 Riesling Lieu Dit Muehlforst Alsace AOC
Cave Vinicole de Hunawihr, Alsace, France
Best Dry Steep Slope Riesling
2018 1655 Escherndorf Am Lumpen Riesling GG VDP.GROSSE LAGE trocken
winery Horst Sauer, Franken
Best Dry Riesling in Food Retailers
2019 Sankt M Riesling trocken
cooperative Cleebronn-Güglingen, Württemberg
About Best of Riesling
The international Best of Riesling competition was launched in 2005 by the agriculture ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate and was held every two years until 2011.
MEININGER VERLAG, which specialises in wine publications and tastings, now holds what has become the world’s largest Riesling competition every year. Best of Riesling is held under the patronage of the agriculture ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate.
About the MEININGER VERLAG:
The publishing company Meininger Verlag was established in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse in 1903. One of Germany’s oldest specialist publishing companies, it is now being run in the fourth generation of the family by Andrea Meininger-Apfel and Christoph Meininger. In particular, the company specialises in the wine and beverage sector, with its wine portfolio making it the European market leader. Alongside well-known journals, the company also organises trade fairs, industry events and conventions. Meininger has successfully made a name for itself internationally with the Grand International Wine Award MUNDUS VINI. Furthermore, the media company also stages numerous wine competitions, such as the Meiningers Deutscher Sektpreis and Meiningers Rotweinpreis.
Press contact:
Nicole Zeisset
Meininger Verlag GmbH
Maximilianstr. 7-17
67433 Neustadt an der Weinstrasse
Germany
Tel.: +49 6321 8908-94
Email: [email protected]
Website:
www.meininger.de/en
www.best-of-riesling.com
