Ahrtal Flood Catastrophe: How We Can Help

[Updated 9:36 GMT 5 August 2021]

As many of you know, during the night of Wednesday, 14 July 2021, the Ahr Valley received nearly double the rainfall that it normally receives for the entire month of July. The water level rose of the Ahr, a river that is normally not more than 10 feet wide in most places, to nearly 7 meters above normal. The consequences were catastrophic, with more than 100 deaths (and counting, many are still missing). The rail line through the valley, the Ahrtalbahn, has been nearly completely destroyed, with 7 bridges partially or completely gone. Roads have been washed away as well, making some towns on the Ahr unreachable except by helicopter. I think it’s safe to say that the extent of the damage to homes and livelihoods in the valley from the flooding is worse than that from World War II.

Dernau after the floods (Deutsche Welle)

Most vintners on the Ahr now face an existential crisis. Cellars and equipment have been destroyed or floated away, bottle stores have been lost. Most vintners lost all of the 2020 vintage and much of 2019. See the excellent article by Valerie Kathawala in Trink Magazine for more information.


How can we help?

A variety of places to donate have been established and individual vintners have also set up donation funds or the ability to purchase food-affected wine. Most are accessible primarily to those who can send funds to European bank accounts (i.e. with IBAN), but others use PayPal or GoFundMe. Regardless, the need for financial support for vintners on the Ahr is enormous. This page, which will be continually updated, lists the places you can give to support the production of wine on the Ahr at its most difficult time ever.

Update: I now indicate where direct donations [donation] are sought and where wine can be purchased [wine purchase] to support the Ahr vintners.

As a note: those without European bank accounts can easily use wise.com to convert other currencies and transfer funds to a European account. If you would like help transferring funds to any places listed below, please feel free to email me: david@rotweinjaeger.com.

All information here is provided as a service, but I assume no responsibility for incorrect information or for how any donations to the listed places will be used.


Donations and wine purchases that benefit more than one vintner


VDP: “Der Adler Hilft” [donation]

The VDP has established a fund that will be distributed to all vintners on the Ahr. The account information:

AccountDer VDP.Adler hilft e.V.
Bank: Rheingauer Volksbank
IBAN: DE 21 5109 1500 0000 2045 28
BIC: GENODE51RGG
Subject: Solidarity Ahr Viticulture

The subject line is important here so that the funds are routed to the appropriate purpose.

Update: The VDP has also only recently set up a PayPal account: deradlerhilft@paypal.de. This should make it easier for those who don’t have a European bank account to help.

I have also set up a GoFundMe account to take donations from those who are not able to send to a European bank account. All donations on or before 27 July will be sent to the VDP account above. Donations after 27 July will be sent to the “Ahr-A Wine Region needs Help e.V.” described below. Please contact me if you’d like more information.

Update: I have close the GoFundMe to further contributions, as direct PayPal contributions to the VDP is preferable.


AHRA wine region needs Help Rebuilding e.V. [donation]

An initiative of Marc Adeneuer (of Weingut JJ Adeneuer), who is currently the leader of the VDP Ahr, and Martita Weil (VDP), funds donated here will be distributed to all vintners on the Ahr (not just the 7 VDP vintners).

Marc is one of the absolute best people in the world and I count him as a friend.

Account: Ahr – A Wineregion Needs Help e.V.
Bank: Kreissparkasse Ahrweiler
IBAN: DE94 5775 1310 0000 3395 07
BIC: MALADE51AHR

Weingut JJ Adeneuer (from Instagram)

German Wine Institute [donation]

The German Wine Institute has established a fund to help vintners on the Ahr. All proceeds donated will benefit the vintners. For international transfers, please see the link.

Account: Deutsches Weininstitut GmbH
Bank: Mainzer Volksbank
IBAN: DE14 5519 0000 0619 7860 15
BIC: MVBMDE55
Subject: Donation Ahr Flooding


Fair ‘n Green

The sustainable wine production group Fair ‘n Green has established a donation fund to help personal and business members of their network. Please donate to:

Account: Spendenkonto Fair and Green e.V.
Bank: GLS Bank, Bochum
IBAN: DE67 4306 0967 4076 8938 01
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Subject: Hilfe für Flutopfer


Bauern- und Winzerverband Rheinland-Nassau e.V. [donation]

The Farmer and Vintner Association of Rheinland-Nassau has established a donation fund. All proceeds go to help farmers and vintners in the norther part of Rheinland-Pfalz, with minimal bureaucratic hurdles.

Account: Spendenkonto des Bäuerlichen Hilfsfonds
Bank: Volksbank RheinAhrEifel
IBAN: DE46 5776 1591 0124 0807 01
BIC: GENODED1BNA
Subject: Starkregenkatastrophe


Deutsche Raffeisenverband (DRV) and Deutsche Genossenschaften und Raiffeisenverband (DGRV) [donation]

The Deutsche Raffeisenverband and the Deutsche Genossenschaft-und-Raffeisenverband have established a donation fund to help Cooperatives affected by the flooding. Donations can be made to


Account: Raiffeisen-Stiftung
Bank: Volksbank Köln-Bonn
IBAN: DE 96 3806 0186 2101 1110 19
BIC: GENODED1BRS
Subject: Unwetterkatastrophe – Genossenschaften helfen


Schulumberger/Segnitz [donation]

The wine distributor Sclumberger/Segnitz has established a donation fund. All proceeds will go to help vintners on the Ahr, particularly their partners Weingut Nelles (winery nearly fully destroyed) and Weingut Deutzerhof (with thankfully little damage). Donations can be made until 31 July 2021 to:

Account: Schlumberger & Segnitz Gruppe
IBAN: DE49 2802 0050 4600 3778 08
BIC: OLBODEH2XXX
Institut: Oldenburgische Landesbank AG
Subject: Nothilfe Ahr


“flutwein” [wine purchase]

“flutwein” is a project started by klebers kuche & garten, with all proceeds going to the Ahr – A Wineregion Needs Help e.V listed above. They are selling 3 flood-dirtied bottles for €60. In addition, there are 1000 bottles individually available with tags number from 1-1000 denoting the bottle as “flutwein”, with lower numbers requiring higher donations (ranging from €50 to €500. For more information see their site on StartNext.

Flutwein (StartNext)

4 Friends from Gesenheim [wine purchase]

Four friends who studied together at the Geisenheim Hochshule for Wine are offering a 6-pack (€ 75 including shipping) from 4 wineries in 3 different wine regions: Weingut Wind-Rabold (Pfalz), Weingut Freiberger oHG (Hessische Bergstrasse), Weingut Röhl (Rheinhessen), and Weingut Lauth & Sohn (Pfalz).

Send € 75 to

Account: “Hilfspaket für die Ahr”
Bank: VR Bank Südpfalz eG
IBAN: DE24 5486 2500 0605 5512 93
BIC: GENODE61SUW
Subject: <your name and address>

Be sure to include your name and address as the Subject (“Verwendungszweck”).


Rieslinghaus Bernkastel and Julian Haart [wine purchase]

Rieslinghaus Berkastle is auctioning off a 3L bottle of 2018 Ohligsberg Riesling Kabinett from Julian Haart. Bidding ends tomorrow, 27 July at 9 pm Germany time. All proceeds go to the Bauern- und Winzerverband Rheinland-Nassau e.V. help fund. Bids only over this Facebook page.


“#SOLIDA(H)RITÄT” [wine purchase]

Dirk Würtz of the VDP Weingut St Antony has coordinated a phenomenal effort of vintners across Germany, Austria, and the Südtirol, who have all donated bottles to be sold with all proceeds going directly to the VDP “Der Adler Hilft” fund. Six-packs of wines chosen at random from the donations cost €65. To date more then 10,000 cartons have been sold! This is truly an extraordinary response for which all of the vintners on the Ahr are grateful and from which they will benefit.

The offer is momentarily on hold while Dirk and his many helpers get the existing offers out the door. Orders will again by taken start 10 AM Germany time on Monday, 2 August 2021.

Donors willing to support the enormous shipping costs should contact Dirk Würtz directly.

SolidAHRitat 6-pack (€ 65 including shipping).

Weingut St Antony

meiningers sommelier magazine “Somms helfen Ahr-Winzern” [wine purchase]

meiningers sommelier magazine has solicited donations of bottles from sommelier in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and is selling them in packets of 1, 3, or 6 bottles — each packet size has a price of €200 (including shipping). All proceeds will be distributed to vintners on the Ahr. For more information and to order, please see “sommeliers-helfen“.


Moselwein Hilft [wine purchase]

A group of Mosel vintners is selling 6-packs of wine (€75 including shipping) from Schlossgut Liebieg, Weingut Karp-Schreiber, Weingut Harald Konrad Fehres, Weingut Generation Hoffmann, Dienhart Weine, Sektgut St. Laurentius, Weingut Rinke, Tiny Winery, Weingut Immich-Batterieberg , Weingut Alex Loersch, Weingut Andreas Roth, Weingut Heiden , Weingut Hain, Weingut Heinz Schneider, Auka, Weingut Kanzlerhof, Weingut Reiner Lautwein, Weingut Fritz Haag, Weingut Willi Haag, Weingut Schiffmann-Junk, Weingut Gustav Conrad, Weingut Hauth, Weingut Jungblut and Weingut Michael Lorscheider.

Simply send an email with your address (in Germany) to tinywinery2019@gmail.com to request a 6-pack. About 50 6-packs from a total of 250 are still available.


Von Winning Sauvignon Blanc 228 [wine purchase]

Weingut von Winning sells 300 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc specially chosen by Paula Bosch at €49 (plus shipping). Simply send an email to webshop@von-winning to order.  All proceeds will go to the VDP “Adler Hilft” fund.


Weingut Tina Pfaffmann [wine purchase]

Weingut Tina Pfaffmann is offering 6-packs of her 2020 “Herzglück Riesling” for €65 including shipping. All proceeds are donated to victims of the flooding on the Ahr. Simple send an email to info@tina-pfaffmann.de to request a 6-pack.


Donations and wine purchases that benefit individual vintners


Weingut Erwin Riske (Dernau) [donation and wine purchase]

Weingut Erwin Riske is a family winery now in its fourth generation. Like many vintners in Dernau, they were very badly hit by the flooding.

They are asking for direct donations to

Account: Weingut Erwin Riske
Bank: Kreissparkasse Ahrweiler
IBAN: DE51 5775 1310 0000 8907 56
BIC: MALADE51AHR
Subject: Spende Hochwasserkatastrophe

The subject here is important to denote the transfer as a donation.

Weingut Erwin Riske (Instagram)

Weingut Erwin Riske is also selling bottles affected by the flood as “Hochwasser-Weine”, with a 1-2 month delivery time. This is also a great way to support them — buying these bottles now provides much-needed financial support.

See the full range of available “Hochwasser-Weine” here.


Rotweingut Jean Stodden (Rech) [wine purchase]

Weingut Jean Stodden consistently produces refined and profound Spätburgunder of the highest quality. Alexander Stodden has brought his winery into the upper echelons of Germany’s wine elite.

Stodden is offering a 6-pack of at a minimum one VDP Grösses Gewächse, Alte Reben, or Lange Goldkapsel, plus 5 other wines from his outstanding collections for 250 (including shipping). All bottles have been saved from their cellar and washed. 10 per 6-pack will be donated to the rebuilding of the historical village center in Rech. Order only by emailing info@stodden.de. Delivery may take some weeks.

Weingut Jean Stodden (Instagram)

Weingut Klosterhof Gilles (Marienthal) [donation]

Klosterhof Gilles is a small, family-run winery, “Winzerstube”, and pension in Dernau-Marienthal.

They have established PayPal pool for direct donations to rebuild their cellar, house, and pension. Contributions can also be made to

Account: Weingut Klosterhof GIlles
Bank: Norisbank
IBAN: DE49 7602 6000 0281 5421 11 
BIC: NORSDE71


Weingut Kriechel (Walporzheim) [wine purchase]

Weingut Kriechel is in its third generation as a family winery and with 24 hectares has grown to be the largest family-held winery on the Ahr. Their cellars and tasting room in Walporzheim were completely flooded.

Kriechel is offering a variety of Surprise-“Flutpakete” in their online shop:

Weingut Kriechel (Facebook)

Weingut Kurth (Ahrweiler) [wine purchase]

Stefan Kurth started his winery as a part-time occupation in 2007 and has been full-time since 2011. Weingut Kurth counts as one of the many “Klein aber fein” wineries on the Ahr. The winery is located very close to the Ahr.

Stefan is selling several special “Schlammboxen” surprise packages. Purchasing these now provides much-needed financial support.

Weingut Kurth (Instagram)

Weingut Max Schell (Rech) [donation]

Weingut Max Schell is a bit of a secret tip. Located in Rech, the Schulze-Icking family produces top Spätburgunder. Their winery has been substantially destroyed.

The winery has now set up a PayPal donation account. Donations can also be made via PayPal to info@max-schell.de

Alternatively, donations can be made to:

Account: Wolfgang Schulze-Icking
Bank: Kreissparkasse Ahrweiler
IBAN: DE63 5775 1310 0000 2703
BIC: MALADE51AHR

Weingut Max Schell (Instagram)

Winzergenossenscahft Mayschos-Altenahr (Mayschoss) [donation and wine purchase]

The Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoss-Altenahr is the oldest wine cooperative in the world, having been founded in 1868. Their building and cellars are partially under threat of collapse.

You can support the Winzergenossenschaft in two ways. They are offering a limited supply of “WG-Hochwasser Surprise Pakete” for €100. To reserve, send an email to info@wg-mayschoss.de with your delivery address. Payment can be made to:

Account: Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoss-Altenahr
Bank: Volksbank RheinAhrEifel
IBAN: DE19 5776 1591 0550 0821 01
BIC: GENODED1BNA
Subject: Hochwasserpaket

Direct donations can be made to:

Account: Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoß-Altenahr
Bank: VR Würselen
IBAN: DE 2939 1629 8010 1719 7025
BIC: GENODED1WUR
Subject: Nothilfe Mayschoss


Weingut Nelles (Heimersheim) [donation and wine purchase]

Evidence of winemaking in the Nelles family goes back to 1479 (hence the prominence of this number on the winery’s labels). Philip and his father Thomas are at the helm of this VDP-member winery, making fantastic wine in Heimersheim, one of the towns closest to the Rhein. I’ve known both Thomas and Philip for years and they are fantastic winemakers and wonderful people. They estimate that the flood destroyed €300,000 of wine alone, not to mention their cellar and equipment.

Philip and Thomas are offering a “Hockwasserkiste” of 6 wines for €250. Of this, €100 will go to the VDP “Adler Hilft” fund noted above.

Weingut Nelles (Facebook)

In addition, direct contributions can be made to the winery through StartNext. For every contribution above €50, the Nelleses will send a bottle of their “Hochwasser” wine (within Europe).


Weingut Peter Lingen (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler) [donation and wine purchase]

Weingut Peter Lingen is a wine-making family in its 11th generation. Their winery is in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.

All of the winery is destroyed.

Famille Lingen have started a GoFundMe account with a goal of raising €50,000.

In addition, Weingut Peter Lingen is offering 6-packs of unlabeled wine rescued from their cellar for €100, which includes a €10 donation to “Ahr – A Wineregion Needs Help e.V.” or “Der Adler Hilft” funds listed above. Simply send an email to info@weingut-lingen.de or respond to the relevant post on Facebook or Instagram.

Weingut Peter LIngen (Instagram)

Weingut Sermann (Altenahr) [donation]

The Sermann family has made wine on the Ahr since 1775. Lukas Sermann is the 7th generation of winemakers in the family and is one of the “young stars” on the Ahr.

Their winery in Altenahr was devastated.

Direct donations for rebuilding can be made to

Account: Weingut Sermann Inh. Lukas Sermann
Bank: Kreissparkasse Ahrweiler
IBAN: DE76 5775 1310 0000 2051 95
BIC: MALADE51AHR

Donations can also be made by PayPal to info@sermann.de

Weingut Sermann (Instagram)

Weingut St Nepomuk (Rech) [donation]

Weingut St Nepomuk is a small family winery and restaurant in Rech.

Tim Harder has founded a GoFundMe with a goal of raising €25,000.

Weingut St Neopomuk (Facebook)

Ahrtal Frühburgunder and Rosenthal

We invited a passel of our wine friends to our apartment in Washington Heights last Friday (2 November) for a tasting of wines from the Ahrtal — a selection of Frühburgunder and then all of the dry Spätburgunder from the Rosenthal that I could identify. Although I’ve been blogging for a few months, this served as a de facto launch party for rotweinjaeger.com.

Leslie Gevirtz and Eliza Jaeger
The Ahrtal and particularly the Rosenthal vineyard hold a special place in my personal wine history. The first wine from the Ahr that I found totally captivating was the 2007 Rosenthal from J. J. Adeneuer. It remains one of my favorites. The Ahr is the wine region that I know best, and I count several of the producers there among my friends. So a tasting of Ahr wines was a natural for a tasting to celebrate and promote the blog.

Although focused on Früh- and Spätburgunder, we served two Blanc de Noirs from the Rosenthal while folks were gathering. The first, a 2017 from Weingut Franz Coels, was light and refreshing, with great acid and very nice fruit. More unconventional was the 2016 Rosenthal Blanc de Noir from Weingut Michael Fiebrich. This Blanc de Noir was aged in oak (2nd use barrique), which imparted a steely depth to the wine that one does not usually expect from Blanc de Noir. This is a wine that would pair well with substantial dishes like pork loin or game that one might normally pair with a medium bodied “Noir.” Many of our guests were really taken by this wine as something out of the ordinary but totally delicious.

First Flight

Once our guests, a mix of New York wine folks and wine-friendly academics, had all arrived, we sat down for the first flight. I had picked a variety of Frühburgunder (an early-ripening mutants of Pinot Noir, also known as Pinot Madeleine or Pinot Précocce), to reflect both the geographic diversity on the Ahr as well as to represent the four VDP vintners who do not produce wine from the Rosenthal. In my experience Frühburgunder exhibits a lovely fragrant nose and is a bit more delicate on the palate than Spätburgunder. The 7 wines were:

1. Nelles2016 Madeleine
2. Julia Bertram 2016 Neuenahrer Sonnenberg frühburgunder
3. Meyer-Näkel 2016 Frühburgunder
4. H.J. Kreuzberg 2016 Dernauer Hartdberg Grosses Gewächs Frühburgunder
5. Jean Stodden 2016 Recher Herrenberg Grosses Gewächs Frühburgunder
6. Mayshoss-Altenahr Winzergenossenschaft2016 Frühburgunder Goldkapsel
7. Deutzerhof2016 Mayschosser Mönchberg Grosses Gewächs Frühburgunder

Opinion in the group was a bit divided about the top wine in this group between the Jean Stodden and the Deutzerhof. Both exhibited notable but restrained use of oak with vanilla and cherry on the nose. My personal favorite was the Deutzerhof for the complexity of the nose and a great palate of red fruits with nutmeg and pepper notes. If anyone still doubts that German red wine can favorably compare to those from elsewhere while still remaining “Spätburgunder” at heart (as distinct from Pinot Noir), then they should try this wine. It is absolutely world class.

The Meyer-Näkel also captured some accolades with strong ripe strawberry on the nose and palate. The nose on the Nelles Madeleine was beautifully floral and the palate showed good fruit, but the finish was a bit disappointing.

Will Harcourt-Smith and Joe Czerwinski
The Dernauer Hardtberg from Kreuzberg was well-integrated, with balanced use of oak and good fruit, with a touch of baking spices on the palate. It’s a delicious wine.

Julia Bertam‘s Sonnenberg was perhaps a bit closed (these are all young wines after all), but showed potential with nice red fruit balanced with decent acid. Julia, a former German Wine Queen, is one of the few Ahr vintners whose wines can sometimes be found here in New York (some of her wines, although not this wine, are imported to the U.S. by Schatzi Wines). She has been producing wine under her own label since the 2014 vintage and is already one of the best-known producers on the Ahr.

The Frühburgunder Goldkapsel from the Ahrweiler-Mayschoss Winzergenossenschaft was perhaps a bit overshadowed by the other wines in the flight, but it is clearly a well-made wine probably best enjoyed over the next few years. The group thought that the Nelles, Stodden, and Deutzerhof had good aging potential. I would add the Kreuzberg to that list.

Second Flight

The second and third flights presented dry Spätburgunders from the Rosenthal. The Rosenthal is one of the premier (and largest) vineyards on the Ahr with about 22 hectares under cultivation. It faces south and south west with the walled medieval town of Ahrweiler at its feet. The soil is primarily loam, but also with slate and graywacke.

I tried to present all of the dry Spätburgunders from the Rosenthal and was surprised at the number of producers and variety of wine produced there. Most of these wines are produced in tiny quantities (for those aged in barrique, mostly 1 barrique worth, or about 300 bottles). Assembling a full complement of Rosenthal’s from older vintages would have been impossible, and I doubt that such a collection has been assembled very often, if at all, even in Germany. It was a privilege to be able to present these wines to a group of knowledgable wine drinkers in New York.

The second flight consisted of

1. Ahrweiler Winzerverein2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
2. Max Schell 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
3. Franz Coels 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
4. Weinhaus Rosenthal 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
5. Max Schell 2016 Grand Max “S” Spätburgunder

This flight represented producers that, I think, were totally unknown to any of the group, which included a few folks (including Karl Storchmann, NYU Professor and Editor of the Journal of Wine Economics) who know the Ahr well.

Karl Storchmann
The standouts of this flight were, by nearly unanimous consensus, the two wines from Max Schell. Both showed beautiful “Pinot” noses and on the palate had a great balance of fruit and acid, with def use of oak. I personally found the Grand Max “S” to be a tick more lively. These were both outstanding wines that show the hand of a very skilled wine maker. Wolfgang Schulze-Icking, the winemaker who owns Max Schell with his wife Katarina, provided the wines to me before they are released to the public, but they were both were already drinking quite well. Bravo!

The least expensive wine of the night, from the Ahrweiler Winzerverein, also won some hearts (particularly among the younger crowd at the tasting with a more limited budget) as a decent, drinkable wine at a fair price. I found the sour cherry palate to be a bit disappointing, but with cheese or a meal this would be a perfectly acceptable wine.

Franz Coels’s Rosenthal was, in all honesty, a bit disappointing. I had tried it in Ahrweiler on the previous Sunday and found it to be surprisingly good, with a decently aromatic nose and a rounded and fruit-filled palate. There was some discussion in the group about whether the bottle was flawed (I’d unfortunately left the second bottle I’d purchased back in Germany), and so I am loathe, given my earlier experience, to draw a definite conclusion about the wine based on this tasting. The wine in our glasses was a bit lifeless and thin, unfortunately.

Weinhaus Rosenthal is the brainchild of Michael Lang, who runs the Ahrwein Depot in Ahrweiler. This is the first vintage in which he has produced his own wine. He uses Max Schell’s Weinkeller but during a recent visit to Ahrweiler he assured me that he did all of the work himself in the production of the wine. The wine was good, certainly for a first effort, but not great. At a price point that exceeds Adeneuer’s Grosses Gewächs from the Rosenthal, however, it’s hard to recommend this wine too strongly, and I think Michael has oversold it a bit on his website and label. Having his likeness on the capsule is also a bit goofy. In my opinion the two wines in this flight from Max Schell are much better in an absolute sense and also offer a substantially better value for their quality.

Third Flight

The third and last flight included the two Rosenthals produced by VDP producers Jean Stodden and J.J. Adeneuer, as well as Peter Kriechel, Paul Schumacher, and relative newcomers Julia Bertram and Michael Fiebrich:

1. Peter Kriechel2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
2. Julia Bertram 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
3. Paul Schumacher 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
4. Michael Fiebrich 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal
5. J.J. Adeneuer 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal Grosses Gewächs
6. Jean Stodden 2016 Ahrweiler Rosenthal Grosses Gewächs

These six wines, all excellent, showed a remarkable variety considering that they are all produced with fruit from the same vineyard and are from the same vintage. Roughly speaking, there was consensus that the wines could be grouped into two groups of the first three (Kriechel, Bertram, and Schumacher) and the last three (Fiebrich, Adeneuer, and Stodden). I perhaps should have randomized the order in which they were poured, but I think there was some sense in keeping the Grosses Gewächs Rosenthals for the end.

The Rosenthal from Kriechel, while good, was perhaps not quite ready for prime time, with a bit of a short finish. Peter Kriechel was very kind to provide a bottle to me before they go on sale to the and warned me that the wine probably would not show as well as it might with a year or two of bottle age. He also provided a bottle of his 2015 Rosenthal and I’ll include it in a Friday Night Flights at some point in the near future.

Julia Bertram’s Rosenthal is a very nice wine, with soft tannins and good fruit. The nose was perhaps not as stunning as some of the wines later in the flight, but this is a wine that will age nicely over the next few years.

The Rosenthal from Paul Schumacher was probably the most Burgundian of the wines of the evening with darker fruits and a rounder mouth feel, with some spice on the long finish. A very nice wine!

Michael Fiebrich is one of the smallest producers on the Ahr, making about 6,000 bottles total of all his wines, which are all organic. I recently visited some of his vineyards and his Keller (a blog entry coming soon). He does nearly all of the work on his wines himself (including tying the capsules to the bottles!) and they are truly a labor of love. His Rosenthal very much impressed the group with a lovely nose, wonderful fruit, and a great finish.

The last two wines of the night, both Grosses Gewächs were probably the favorites of the flight for the Group. Adeneuer’s Rosenthal is the more delicate of the two and has been one of my “Lieblingsweine” for years. Those nose has floral and vanilla elements along with restrained cherry and raspberry. On the palate, it delivers a mouth-pleasing balance of red fruits with hints of baking spices and vanilla. The use of oak here is restrained but appropriate. This is a beautiful wine.

Stodden’s Rosenthal was, for me, the star of the night, though, even though I am through-and-through an Adeneuer fan. For me this wine was in perfect balance between acid and fruit with silky tannins. The finish was tremendous and the nose was gorgeous — a wine one could sniff without sipping for hours. But why would you want to? This is a prodigious effort from Alex Stodden. What a shame that there are only 300 bottles made!

My impression from chatting with our honored guests was that they were extremely impressed with nearly every one of the wines. They were astounded by the variety coming from a small vineyard area so far north.

After a few wine-soaked hours, we were ready for dinner. We started with Pumpkin soup with pumpkin oil from Steiermark in Austria and toasted pumpkin seeds. Alison then provided risotto with Bergkäse paired with roasted Brussel sprouts and smoked salmon. It was spectacular and a perfect ending to a perfect evening!


Thanks to all! In February there will be a tasting of (nearly) all of the Grosses Gewächs Spätburgunder from the Ahr — I’m very curious to see what folks think of them!


Photo credits: Mikhail Lipyanskiy

Congratulations to the Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoss-Altenahr!

The Winzergenossenschaft in Mayschoss on the Ahr is celebrating it’s 150th anniversary this weekend!

The Winzergenossenschaft is the the oldest wine cooperative in the world (“Genossenschaft” means cooperative). It was founded in December 1868 as the Mayschosser Winzerverein with 18 members and at its 100th anniversary in 1968 it had 240 members. In 1982 it merged with the Altenahr Winzergenossenschaft and in 2009 with the Walporzheimer Winzergenossenschaft, which was the second oldest cooperative in Germany, having been founded in 1871.

The Genossenschaft currently has 432 members with about 150 hectares under cultivation and produces about 1.4 millions bottles of wine, making it the largest producer on the Ahr.

From my own experience, I can say that the Mayschosser Winzergenossenschaft has made big strides in the last 10 years and now produces some excellent wine. Their dry Rieslings and the Spätburgunder “R” Pinot Noir and the Walporzheimer Kräuterberg are great and good values. I’m also fond of their Blanc de Noir.

Their cellar, which was built in 1871, can be toured with a guide and is definitely worth a visit.

The celebration will be going on all weekend. Infos are Info (sorry, only in German).

Congratulations to the Mayschosser! Weiter so! Zum Wohl!

The Winzergenossenschaft Mayschoss then:
Alt Mayschosser

and now:

Passed my Level 3 Exam!

My Level 3 Award in Wines from the Wine and Spirts Education Trust arrived in yesterday’s mail, one week earlier than I expected!

I passed the “theory” part of the exam with merit and the blind tasting (2 wines, one white, one red) was just a “pass”.  The theory section was 50 multiple choice questions and 4 short answer questions with multiple parts for which we had 2 hours.  I used just about all of that time.  It’s been about 25 years since I’ve taken anything other a multiple choice test.

The blind tasting, which we wrote first, was 30 minutes.  The goal of the tasting is to see if one can describe wines using the WSET’s “Systematic Approach to Tasting.”  The idea behind the SAT is to provide a standard framework to describe wines (appearance, nose, palate) that would allow another person familiar with the framework to have an idea about how the wine looks, smells, and tastes, even if they have never tried it.    It’s fairly detailed — here’s the Level 3 SAT.  One doesn’t have much latitude in how to describe stuff like color, alcohol, or acidity, but one can use whatever aroma and flavor descriptors one wants.  I had hoped that my white wine would have been a Sauvignon Blanc because I think most of them smell like Mexican guava (how’s that for obscure?), but I got what I’m pretty sure was a Sauternes.  I’m sure there’s a straight Sauvignon Blanc in my future, though…

For those that don’t know about the WSET Awards…  There are four levels.  I started at Level 2 in February(a month worth of Saturdays taught by the inimitable Quentin Sadler) and then did Level 3 online, both while I was visiting the London School of Economics.  The next and final level with the WSET is the Diploma, which comprises 6 sub-courses and takes about a year to 15 months to complete.  After that, one can apply to the Master of Wine curriculum.  If you work really, really hard and have a bit of luck, after another 3 or 4 years, you get to use the hallowed “MW” after your name.

So I’m thrilled to have passed Level 3!  Now the really tough work on my way to those initials begins.  Thanks for accompanying me on that journey…

Friday Night Flights 15 June 2018, Linz Edition (I)

I’ve been visiting the Department of Economics at the Johannes Kepler Universität in Linz, Austria this week.  I have known Rudolf Winter-Ebmer and René Böheim for a long time it’s been great to spend a little time in Linz.

And of course there is great wine in Austria!  More on that later and next week…

I asked René if he’d want to do a Friday Night Flights with me and he organized an amazing evening of wine with Linz friends and colleagues.    We’d been through three flights of two Austrian wines each (see below) before we got to the “Friday Night Flights” comparison.  As you can imagine, we were warmed up and in a good mood!  René was great about drinking everything blind and so the usual FNF conditions apply.  Let’s get to it!

Wine A

Our first wine (well, technically our 7th wine of the night, but…) has a beautiful deep ruby color. On the nose it’s got a mix of green pepper, tobacco, chocolate, plum, and spices.    It’s really great.

The palate has pronounced but well-integrated tannins and it’s clear that this is a wine that built for aging.  There’s tobacco, a bit of plum, some eucalyptus, perhaps some white pepper. The acid is in balance, but restrained.  Between the fruit and tannins, the wine has pronounced body.  There a lot of great things going on in the glass, and the finish is long and pleasant.

Wine B

Our second wine is also ruby, but a little lighter than the first wine.  On the nose it offers more vanilla than the tobacco of the first wine with spicy notes.  There are definite black fruit notes as well.  The nose here is great, but perhaps a bit less complex than Wine A.

On the palate, I get black cherries, blackberries, plums and again vanilla.  There’s very nice fruit here as well as decent acidity.  The tannins are a bit silkier than Wine A, but definitely present — another wine built for the bottle.  It’s full bodied and round in the month.   The finish is not quite as long as Wine A, but still great.

Since I brought these two wines (but don’t know which is which), I’m glad.  René has been so generous sharing his own wines both at this grandiose tasting, but also at dinner on Tuesday, and he’s been so enthusiastic about my new wine ventures, that I didn’t want these wines to disappoint.  They definitely didn’t and our group of five definitely enjoyed them.

So which of these is from Germany and which from elsewhere?

Click here to see what we were drinking…

Friday Night Flights 8 June 2018

Welcome to Friday Night Flights for 8 June 2018…  a humid and sticky night in Bonn, indeed.

I’m without my trusty sidekick Alison Beach tonight and so I won’t be able to give you a “blind” report in the manner to which you’ve become accustomed.  Alison is off leading a class of Ohio State students to the Blackfriary Archeological Field School in Trim, Ireland.  Clearly her priorities are not in order…  and she has the good camera with her. I’ll try to solider on, two bottles staring me in the face, without her.

I don’t think drinking these wines “nonblind,” as it were, will affect my judgement much, as you’ll see.  But I won’t break format, and so there will be some suspense for you until the “reveal,” as usual.  I will note, though, that both wines were slightly chilled before tasting.

Wine A

Wine A in the glass

Wine A presents with a medium ruby color.  It has a lovely “pinot” nose, with light floral notes, along with vanilla, raspberry, and a hint of strawberry.  It’s quite delicate and lovely.

On the palate, Wine A has refreshing acidity, balanced by good fruit flavors of raspberry, red cherry, a bit of kirsch, and a touch of spice on the nice finish, which is medium(+) in length.  The body here is on the low side of medium, with silky tannins and the acidity balancing the excellent fruit.

Overall, a very pleasant wine.

 

Wine B

Wine B in the glass

Wine B is lighter than Wine A, a pale ruby.  On the nose, one notes that it is definitely matured at least partially in new oak, but these vanilla notes, while strong, are pleasant. There are some light cherry and strawberry aromas as well.

The acid in Wine B is more restrained than in Wine A and on the palate there are notes of cedar and sour cherry, with a bit of spiciness.  The tannins here are slightly more pronounced than in Wine A, with medium alcohol and a shortish finish.

This is a good wine, definitely well-made and drinkable.

Click here to see what we were drinking…

 

 

Friday Night Flights 1 June 2018, Ireland Edition

Welcome to Friday Night Flights for 1 June 2018… we’re in Ireland this week and not drinking Guiness.  Sorry for the late post.  Sometimes the rotwein|jaeger has to attend to that pesky career as an economist.  The more you read and like, the sooner I can give up that silly research stuff and concentrate on the important business of tasting wine.

So we’re in Ireland because trusty cork puller and wine pourer extraordinaire Alison Beach is here leading a lusty band of students from Ohio State in a study abroad course at the Blackfriary in Trim, Ireland.  We’re joined today by a few graduates from the class of 2017 from Middlebury College:  Eliza Jaeger, Sofy Maia, and Tom Canaday.  As you can guess, Eliza is our daughter.  And Sofy and Tom are getting married this month!  What better reason to open a few bottles of great wine…

Getting down to business…  [Sorry, no glass pictures this week… they’ll return next week]

Wine A

Wine A has a medium ruby color in the glass.  Really a lovely color, but rather Pinot Noir-like.

The nose has definite floral notes, with red cherry, raspberry, blueberry some white pepper.  We all agree that there are vanilla notes as well.

On the palate, it has high acid, with raspberry, red cherry, lingonberry, and vanilla, and white pepper on the finish.  The balance is super between the acid and fruit and medium tannins.  This is not a “big” wine, and has medium body.  The finish is pleasant and long.

Overall, we all agree this is a really good wine, but I think that of the group I probably like it best.

Wine B

Wine B is definitely darker than Wine A, a deep ruby.

The nose here is more complex than Wine A, with more black fruit (black cherry, blackberry) than red.  There’s also a bit of forest floor and cedar and vanilla.  It’s really lovely and I think my young co-tasters are especially enamored of it.

The palate has all of the things we detected on the nose plus some black pepper on this finish, with really nice acid.  The tannins are restrained, but the great fruit in the wine gives it more body than Wine A.  The finish is long and great.

Boof… a couple of great wines, but I can see where my young tasting colleagues are headed with their preferences.

Click here to see what we were drinking…

Friday Night Flights 25 May 2018

Welcome to Friday Night Flights for 25 May 2018!

This is the third installment of “Friday Night Flights,” where we drink two wines blind and give you the scoop.  One will always be from Germany, and the other can be from anywhere, but we choose them to be comparable on varietal and price point.

Wine A

Wine A in the glass

This week’s Wine A is medium ruby in color.  The nose offers blackberries and black cherries and definitely has some mushroomy/forest floor and green asparagus overtones.  There’s a bit of clove, and I suspect that it is matured partially in new oak.

The palate offers a bit more black cherry than on the nose, with blackberries, and a bit of cassis.  The smooth and integrated tannins are on the high side of medium, with high acid.  Overall the wine has nice (medium-plus) body.  The finish is a bit disappointing, but not unpleasant.

I find the wine to be well-structured with a nice balance between acid, tannin, and fruit.  There is clearly aging potential here, probably for 10 years or more.

Wine B

Wine B in the glass

Wine B is a bit lighter in color, with definite hints of garnet on the rim.  The nose gives substantially more evidence of new oak than Wine A, with notes of toasty vanilla.  The fruits here are a bit more pronounced than in Wine A, with a mix of black fruits (black cherry and blueberry) and red fruits (raspberry).

The palate offers the same lovely mix of fruit along with white and black pepper.  The smooth tannins here are perhaps less pronounced than in Wine A (medium rather than medium-plus), but there is also high acid.  The fruit is more pronounced than in Wine A here as well, but with similarly high acid.

Wine B has a lighter body (medium) than Wine A, but a longer finish.   There is still aging potential, but it is probably less than Wine A, which is more tannic.

Click here to see what we were drinking…

Facebook

We’ve now added a Facebook presence at http://www.facebook.com/rotweinjaeger

It’s sometimes easier to share things on Facebook that are posted on Facebook (e.g. notices from vintners, etc.).  And not everyone uses Twitter and we’re trying to reach the biggest audience we can.

Some great possibilities for Friday Night Flights this week.  I’m curious to see what pair gets chosen!

Memories of Trestle on Tenth

I have been spending my sabbatical leave this year away from New York, which has been lovely.  I love New York, but sometimes a change of pace is good.

But I am quite sad to be away this week, as it is the last week that my absolute favorite restaurant in the city, Trestle on Tenth will be open.  Trestle is closing its doors forever and I am sorry that I won’t be able to be there on Saturday the 26th to say goodbye to owner and chef Ralf Kuettel and his superb staff, especially general manager Gwen Hayward.

My good friend Karl Storchmann, editor of the Journal of Wine Economics, introduced my to Trestle in 2010.  We’ve since spent many nights there eating and drinking wine, and discussing wine, often ones that we brought ourselves and that Ralf was kind enough to let us drink without charging us corkage.  Ralf’s Swiss upbringing was reflected in the menu and his smoked and roasted pork loin was to die for.  I rarely deviated from my choice, even if other items on the menu were also spectacular.  What I loved about Trestle was that it was quiet enough to be able to carry on a conversation, which is not always easy in New York restaurants. And the service was always impeccable.  The prices were reasonable and the wine list was heavy on natural European wines, also something of a rarity in New York.  The outside garden was one of the loveliest spots for dinner in Manhattan.

Trestle played an integral role in my quest to bring German red wine to the attention of Americans.  Most significantly, it was the place where, in November of 2010, Karl and I co-organized a blind tasting of Großes Gewächs (the German equivalent of Grand Cru in France) from the Ahr and selected (and roughly comparably priced) wines from Burgundy.  Karl was amazing in organizing funding from the German Wine Institute and the American Association of Wine Economists, which paid for dinner for all of our guests.

Ahrwein at the ready

Karl also assembled a great guest list…  Here’s who was there, in addition to Karl and me, with their affiliations at the time:

The 6 VDP (Verband deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweinguter — the best 200 vintners in German) vintners on the Ahr (Adeneuer, DeutzerhofKreuzberg, Meyer-Näkel, Nelles, and Stodden) were very generous and donated 6 bottles each (3 bottles of 2 different Großes Gewächs), which I schlepped back from Germany in two different trips.  I was traveling back and forth quite frequently then, so this wasn’t a particular problem.  While a few of the Ahr vintners were exporting to the U.S. at the time, I sold them on the idea that this would be a good way to test the waters of the U.S. market, particularly if we could induce some of the press at the time to report on the tasting.

Stephen Bitterolf, who worked at Crush Wine at the time and who now organizes the Rieslingfeier every year in New York also supported us by providing to us at cost four Burgundies that would normally retail for about $100 per bottle.

Setting up. So many glasses!  L: Alison Beach, R: Tom Dunn (Trestle General Manager at the time)

It was important to Karl and me that we taste the wines blind, and the staff at Trestle was superb in helping us to achieve this.  There is a fair amount of prejudice against German red wines, even among some of the more sophisticated wine people in New York.  This event was no different, as a certain contingent of folks spent a lot of time trying to figure out which of the wines were from France and then heaping praise on them.

Karl has a lot of experience with blind tastings, however, and came prepared with software from Richard Quandt, a renowned Princeton econometrician and wine lover.  His WINETASTER software has been used to evaluate hundreds of blind tastings.

We tasted eight wines in each in two flights.  Each taster was asked to rank the wines from 1 (best) to 8 (worst) in both flights.

Introducing the night.  L to R: Howard Goldberg, Orley Ashenfelter, Joe Czerwinski, me, and Karl Storchman

First Flight

The aggregated rankings of the first flight were:

  • 1st:  2007 Nelles B-48 GG
  • 2nd (tied):  2007 Stodden Recher Herrenberg GG
  • 2nd (tied):  2008 Meyer-Näkel Dernauer Pfarrwingert GG
  • 4th:  2007 Deutzerhof Mayschoßer Mönchsberg GG
  • 5th:  2007 Lafarge Clos du Chateau des Ducs 1er Cru
  • 6th:  2006 Adeneuer J.J. Adeneuer “R”
  • 7th:  2007 Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny
  • 8th:  2007 Kreuzberg Devonschiefer “R”

The wines of the same color are considered to be statistically ranked the same. The Nelles B-48 was clearly a winner in this flight and the next three wines were also from the Ahr.

First flight

Second Flight

The second flight was somewhat less conclusive, as all wines were statistically similarly ranked.  Nevertheless, Ahr wines topped the list:

  • 1st:  2008 Meyer-Näkel Walporzheimer Kräuberberg GG
  • 2nd:  2007 Kreuzberg Silberberg GG
  • 3rd:  2007 Nelles B-52 GG
  • 4th:  2007 Adeneuer Ahrweiler Rosenthal GG
  • 5th:  2007 d’Angerville Volnay Champans 1er Cru
  • 6th:  2007 Stodden Ahrweiler Rosenthal GG
  • 7th:  2007 Deutzerhof Altenahrer Eck GG
  • 8th:  2007 Chevillon Nuit-St.-Georges Les Cailles 1er Cru

Paul Greico and Joshua Greene

This was my first experience with New York wine professionals, and most were very gracious (Paul Greico and Joshua Greene, pictured at right, for example).  It was somewhat surprising to me, though, how closed-minded some folks were.  Maybe I just love Spätburgunder more than others.

Karl and I had hoped that the night would generate a bit of positive press and interest in Ahr wine in particular and German red wine in general.  Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, although there was general agreement that the Ahr wines held their own against the 1er Cru from Burgundy.  The lack of availability of the wines in the U.S. probably played a large role.

Lots of empty bottles

 

Farewell, Trestle

I owe much to Ralf and the staff at Trestle for making that night back in 2010 so successful.  But I am also so grateful that Trestle was always a place that was welcoming and where I was greeted by name and with a smile.  I’ve shared many wonderful times there with colleagues, friends, and family.  I’ve celebrated there and spent nights in long conversation.  I’ve sat outside in the garden in the sun and watched snow pile up outside the big front window.  It’s been an anchor in my life for a long time now, and I will dearly, dearly miss it.

Ralf, Gwen, and the rest of the staff at Trestle:  I hope this is not good bye, but just Auf Wiedersehen.  Thank you for so many good memories.

The bar at Trestle