Wine: WZG Original Lemberger

After my disappointment with the WZG Original Trollinger last week I bought a bottle of Eberbach-Schäfer Trollinger. I've drunk it quite often since I first reviewed it five years ago, and it's still my favourite Trollinger.

But now to the WZG Original Lemberger in the picture. This is a dry but fruity wine. It's everything a Lemberger should be. It might even be the equal of the Eberbach-Schäfer Lemberger which I've drunk a few times, though I don't enjoy it as much as the Lemberger that Eberbach-Schäfer markets as "Romeo". I'm constantly on the hunt for the perfect wine, but I keep returning to the wines I already know.

What I'm trying to say is that the WZG Original Lemberger is a good wine, but I doubt I'll buy it again. I was tempted by the special offer in the supermarket this week, but the regular price is more expensive than other wines which I enjoy more.

Wine: WZG Original Trollinger

My intention today was to review the WZG Original Trollinger by comparing it with the standard WZG Trollinger. Technically the standard bottle on the right is the original wine, which confuses matters. It wasn't until I sat down to start writing that I realised I've never written about the standard Trollinger. I haven't drunk it for years. I usually have a bottle in the kitchen for use as cooking wine, but I don't consider drinking it.

Yesterday I drank a glass of the WZG Original Trollinger and found it pleasant, though slightly acidic. Today, realising I had a bottle in the kitchen, I grabbed the standard WZG Trollinger for comparison. I must have looked like a fool. I had a glass of wine in each hand, sipping alternately.

The difference was much less than I expected. The Original wine is very slightly milder, as I recognise when I drink the two wines side by side, but if someone poured me a glass tomorrow I wouldn't be able to tell which one I'm drinking. According to tables I've found online, the Original Trollinger has residual sugar (Restsüße) of 12.8 grams per liter, whereas the standard Trollinger has residual sugar of 15 grams per liter. Does this difference come from different fermentation procedures? I don't know. All I know is that the standard wine should taste slightly sweeter, but I can't tell the difference.

I don't think I'll return to either wine, apart from continuing to use the standard Trollinger for cooking. I prefer the Eberbach-Schäfer Trollinger.

Wine: WZG Original Schwarzriesling

First of all, a personal message. October 13th is the anniversary of my father's death in 1983. It was 41 years ago, but it still seems like yesterday. He was a difficult person to live with, incapable of showing emotions, but beneath his hard shell I recognised that he was a good man. While I lived in Birmingham I used to visit his grave every year on the anniversary. Since moving to Germany I've only managed to be in England once on this date, but I've managed to visit the grave occasionally on different dates. Wherever I am, October 13th is always an emotional date for me.

Now to the wine. This is a bottle that was given me as a birthday present by my son-in-law, but I only opened it a few days ago. It's a wine made by the Stuttgart wine cooperative, the Württembergische Weingärtner-Zentralgenossenschaft. The abbreviation is WZG. Shouldn't it be WWZG? I shan't argue with them.

Most WZG wines are bottled with labels that don't identify them on the front, making them look like generic wines. However, they also have an "Original" line of wine, slightly more expensive, which makes me suspect they have better quality. I've searched online in vain to find a description of the differences. The word original doesn't say anything at all.

Schwarzriesling is one of the most common grapes grown in Württemberg, after Trollinger and Lemberger. I can't say which is the best of the three. It all depends on your taste. All I can say is that I was surprised when I opened the bottle three days ago. The first impression was that the wine was sour. Yuck! But my palate adjusted to it quickly, and the second sip was pleasantly mild. I've never known a wine change its taste so rapidly. The second day I had the same experience. The first sip tasted sour, after which it became pleasant.

It's a good wine. I'm determined to try the other wines in the Original line. My local supermarket stocks them all.

Wine: Rolf Willy Schwarzriesling with Samtrot

This is a wine that I've been drinking for a few months, one or two bottles a month. It's one of my favourite wines. I didn't realise until today that I've never mentioned it. It has a rich taste, with the tang of Schwarzriesling balanced by the mildness of Samtrot. Whoever thought of combining these two grapes is a genius. Schwarzriesling alone is an acquired taste, something I can't drink on a regular basis, but the combination with Samtrot is overwhelming. As I've said before, I can't claim to be an expert in wine, but I know what I like.

Surprisingly, it's not an expensive wine. It only costs six Euros at my local supermarket. I've never understood the pricing of wines. Is the price based on the work needed to produce a wine, the popularity with customers, or the quality as judged by experts? I really need to ask someone.

Wine: Haberschlachter Heuchelberg Schwarzriesling with Spätburgunder

I confess, Schwarzriesling and Spätburgunder grapes aren't a combination that I've experienced before, but the result is a mild tasting wine that's easy on the palate. From the first sip I was won over by the fruity taste.

It was also on sale at my local supermarket, alongside the Haberschlachter Heuchelberg Trollinger with Lemberger. They're both good wines, but this is the better of the two. I've read reviews that recommend it as a wine to accompany spicy food. That's possible, but I consider it an excellent wine to drink by itself. It's a wine that I'll buy again, even when it returns to its full price next week.

Wine: Haberschlachter Heuchelberg Trollinger with Lemberger

It's been a few years since I last drank this wine. I couldn't remember its taste. I only returned to it today because it was on special offer at my local supermarket.

I tried to find out the exact details of the wine, but I couldn't find anything online. It's distributed by the wine cooperative in Möglingen, the Württembergische Weingärtner-Zentralgenossenschaft, but it seems to be the produce of a single vineyard. Haberschlachter Heuchelberg, if that's the correct brand name, only produces four different wines.

Compared with other Trollinger-Lemberger wines, this wine has a strong acidity, even more acidic than the Fellbach variant. Acidic wines are difficult to judge. Normally they become more enjoyable as you get used to them, the second glass tasting better than the first, but I didn't want to drink more than one glass last night. I sometimes drink a few glasses when I'm in company, but when I'm at home I only drink one glass, slowly sipping and savouring it.

It was a good wine for the price I paid, but I prefer the Eberbach-Schäfer Trollinger with Lemberger.

Wine: WZG Möglingen Trollinger-Lemberger

After the disappointment with my last bottle of wine, I decided to take another risk. The newly opened branch of the supermarket Edeka in my village has a large selection of Württemberg wines. I noticed that some of them were on special offer. Only 3.20 Euros for a bottle of Trollinger with Lemberger? That's not a bad price. Judging by the label, it looked like a generic wine, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad, so I laid my money down and took it home.

I was pleasantly surprised by the taste when I finally took a sip in the evening. The wine has a rich, fruity taste, not as mild as the Eberbach-Schäfer Trollinger with Lemberger that I often drink, but still a good wine. I checked the label on the back, and I realised what I'd bought. It's not a generic wine, it's a product of the wine cooperative in Möglingen. Möglingen is a small village close to Stuttgart. They're the largest wine cooperative in Württemberg, and one of the largest in Germany. Over 10,000 small vineyards in and around Stuttgart supply their grapes to the cooperative.

I'm critical of wine cooperatives in general. I have no doubt that they work hard to assure quality control, but can they guarantee consistency? Will the wine I drink ten years from now taste the same? On the other hand, I trust the wine from the Besigheimer Felsengarten cooperative. They're only supplied by 220 vineyards, which is a more manageable number.

What's the largest private vineyard in Württemberg that bottles its own wine? It's difficult to compare, because it's not well documented online. The largest that I know is Rolf Willy, which covers an area of 265 hectares. (A hectare is 10,000 square meters or 2.5 acres). Eberbach-Schäfer has only 17 hectares, meaning a smaller variety of wines.

Wine: Schmalzried Muskat-Trollinger

People who have read my wine reviews may think that I'm biased and I'll say any wine from Württemberg is good. This is the proof that it's not the case. A young lady that I met at the cinema recommended me the wine from Korb, a town that's about ten miles north-east of Stuttgart. So what did I do? You guessed it. I ran to the closest supermarket and picked up a bottle of wine from Korb, a Muskat-Trollinger from the Schmalzried vineyard.

In the evening I poured it into a decanter and waited patiently to let the wine breathe. Then I took my first sip. And yeuk! What was I drinking? It was so sour and unpalatable, I thought someone was playing a bad joke on me.

I drank the rest slowly. I thought it might grow on me. But it didn't. The following day I drank a second glass. It tasted slightly better after standing for a day. The third day (last night) I finished it. Never again. How dare Schmalzried sell something like this?

Before writing this review today I read online that this wine has won an award. You can see the green sticker on the bottle in the photo. Maybe, just maybe, something was wrong with the wine that I bought. Maybe some sort of contaminant found its way into the bottle, spoiling the taste. But then it would still be Schmalzried's fault. They bottle their own wine, so they should have quality control. Really, I should have taken the wine back to the supermarket and told them it was bad, but they would just have laughed at me. They have no way of knowing I'm a connoisseur who can tell the difference between good and bad wine.

No more Schmalzried wine for me. Never again.

Wine: Eberbach-Schäfer Heisser Eber Glühwein

I saw in the New Year with a glass of Heisser Eber Glühwein in my hand. Before you run to Google Translate, I'll tell you what that means. It's "hot boar mulled wine". It's not apparent in the photo, but that's a wild boar on the label.

Mulled wine is commonly drunk at Christmas, especially in Germany. It's red wine with added spices, gently heated. Home made mulled wine often has orange and lemon peel floating in it, but it's only for the flavour. Don't swallow it! The mulled wine sold at Christmas markets usually has added sugar.

In most cases a cheap wine is used for making mulled wine. This is why I was surprised to see a mulled wine from a high quality vineyard like Eberbach-Schäfer. I wasn't sure whether After some hesitation I took a risk and bought a bottle.

I needn't have worried. The wine was delicious. I drank the whole bottle before I went to bed. Wine critics agree that it's outstanding:

"Thanks to the high quality base wine, Eberbach-Schäfer's mulled wine is a wonderful example of premium mulled wine. The strong wine taste combined with the fine spices make the “hot boar” a perfect companion for cold days. Frieder Schäfer strictly followed his grandmother's recipe when seasoning the not-too-sweet mulled wine. Just warm the mulled wine, don't overheat it, in order to retain the flavour".

I wonder if there will be any bottles left in the shop tomorrow.

Happy New Year to all my friends and readers!

Wine: Fellbacher Trollinger with Lemberger

Yesterday I bought a bottle of the Fellbacher Trollinger with Lemberger, to compare it with the Besigheimer wine that I drank a few days ago. It's interesting to see how the tastes of two local wines can be so different. Besigheim and Fellbach are only 16 miles from one another, and both towns make wines in cooperatives (Genossenschaften), but the Fellbach wine has a subtle acidic tang that's missing in the Besigheim wine. I don't say that as a negative. The acidity is an interesting addition to the fruity taste. The earth must be very different in Fellbach.

Which wine do I prefer? I'd rate them both equally, but I prefer the milder taste of the Eberbach-Schäfer Trollinger with Lemberger. I wouldn't call myself a wine expert, but I know what I like.

Wine: Besigheimer Felsengarten Lemberger with Trollinger

This is an example of how wine should be drunk. I bought the bottle a few days ago from a supermarket opposite my cinema in Stuttgart. Two days ago I opened the bottle and took a few sips. The wine tasted bitter. I could hardly enjoy it. I drank the rest of the glass before bed, but I had to force myself.

I wouldn't have drunk the wine again, but I had a whole bottle and I didn't want to waste it. I poured a glass, and I let it stand while I was writing a lengthy blog post. About two hours. Then I finally put the glass to my mouth, and I was amazed. It tasted splendid, just as fruity as I'd expect from a Lemberger-Trollinger wine. A good wine needs time to breathe, especially a good red wine.

The taste isn't as mild as the Eberbach-Schäfer Trollinger-Lemberger, but it's still a good wine. Trollinger and Lemberger are two grapes which complement one another.

Interestingly, two Besigheimer wines were being sold side by side: Lemberger with Trollinger, and Trollinger with Lemberger. Usually the two grapes are mixed equally, but I assume that in this case one of the grapes is in the majority.

I'd like to go to a wine-tasting in Besigheim, not because I want to discover wines, since I can buy them in the shops. I want to meet wine experts who can share their opinions with me.

Wine: Rolf Willy Acolon

While shopping on Friday I saw this wine on the shelf and couldn't resist buying it. I took my first few sips yesterday, and now I feel able to describe it.

What's remarkable about Acolon wines is the colour. They're a very dark red, almost purple. It's been a long time since I drank an Acolon wine, so I can't compare it with others. The Rolf Willy wine has a sweet aroma, almost like chocolate. The taste itself isn't what the aroma suggests. It has a thick, sharp taste, almost like Spanish wines. It's not a wine I can drink on a regular basis, but I still have half a bottle left that might change my mind.

Wine: Besigheimer Felsengarten Cabernet Dorsa

Tomorrow I intend to visit the yearly wine festival in Besigheim. I say "yearly", but it's actually the first festival since the Corona pandemic, so it's going to be a special occasion. The people of Besigheim are proud of their wine. Germany makes the best wines in the world. That might come as a surprise to wine lovers in England, because Germany hardly exports any wine. In fact, when it comes to wine Germans look down on England. They say that the English don't understand wine, so Germans drink the best wine themselves and export the rubbish to England.

There are 13 wine growing areas in Germany. The opinions on the relative quality are biased. There are distinct differences in taste, and people in each area say their own wine is the best. Call me biased, but I'm convinced that Württemberg wines are the best. That's what my work colleagues told me when I first moved to Stuttgart, and over time I began to agree with them. One thing I was told is that when you're invited to someone's home you should give them a bottle of wine, but only Württemberg wine. If you give him a bottle of French wine he'll be insulted.

The people of Besigheim say their wine is the best wine in Württemberg, i.e. the best wine in the world. I enjoy the Besigheimer wines, and I've drunk a lot of them, but I have to disagree. I prefer the wine from the Heilbronn area.

Today I've been drinking a Besigheimer wine, the Cabernet Dorsa. It's a new wine to me. It was created in Württemberg in 1971 as a cross of the grapes Lemberger and Dornfelder, but it wasn't recognised as a new variety until 2004. Since then it's been rapidly growing in popularity, planted in vineyards across Germany. Surprisingly, the majority of Cabernet Dorsa grapes are grown in the Pfalz (Palatinate), 78 hectares (193 acres), compared with only 29 hectares (72 acres) in Württemberg. It would be interesting to compare them.

This is a map of the wine-growing areas in Germany. The largest areas are:

    Rheinhessen (26,685 hectares)

    Pfalz (22,885 hectares)

    Baden (15,429 hectares)

    Württemberg (11,140 hectares)

    Mosel (8,594 hectares)

I'll let you convert the hectares into acres yourself. Multiply by 2.5.

I mentioned above that the Cabernet Dorsa is a cross between Lemberger and Dornfelder grapes. I greatly enjoy Lemberger wines for their fruity flavour, but I find Dornfelder wines harsh and unpalatable. However, the mixture of the two grapes has produced an astoundingly powerful taste. If I were a wine expert I would be able to describe it better. All I can say is that it's very fruity, even more so than Lemberger. It lacks the subtlety of Lemberger, so I suspect that Carnet Dorsa is a wine to drink in larger quantities. I haven't tried it yet. I don't like to get drunk, but I could at least drink a few glasses to get an impression.

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Addendum on Monday, 18th September 2023

I've received an email from a friend who strongly disagrees that the Württemberg wines are the best. He insists that the Mosel wines are the best. He claims that the Württemberg wines are too dry.

As you might expect, my friend lives in the Mosel wine area, to be precise in Trier. I wrote in the second paragraph that everyone is biased and calls his own wine the best, so why don't I just brush off his criticism?

I've drunk a few Mosel wines, admittedly not many, but they made a good impression on me. It's true that they're sweet, but not too sweet. The German word is lieblich, which means pleasant. I make no secret of the fact that I prefer dry wines. However, if you're a person who prefers sweeter wines, the Mosel wines are the ones for you. They're not bad wines. They're better than the Rhein-Hessen wines, which are also sweet. I still disagree with my friend, but I'll qualify the statement I made in my main article:

Württemberg wine is the best in Germany, but Mosel wine is the best sweet wine in Germany.

Does that make you happy?

Wine: Rolf Willy Samtrot Weißherbst Kabinett

I found this wine in a supermarket opposite my usual cinema. It doesn't usually stock Rolf Willy wines, so I was surprised to see it in a very prominent place, the opposite end of the shop to the other wines. There were only two types of Rolf Willy wine on sale. After staring at them for five minutes I picked up a bottle of each. Rolf Willy makes very good wine, though slightly more expensive than other vineyards.

There's no doubt about the quality of the Rolf Willy Samtrot Weißherbst Kabinett. A lot of work has gone into crafting it. As is typical for Weißherbst wines, it has a lower alcohol content. It has a pleasant natural sweetness that makes it easy to drink. It's not a very sweet wine like the ones made in central Germany. Under German wine laws, no sugar is allowed in Weißherbst wines. To increase the sweetness, small amounts of the grape juice made from the same grapes can be added.

It's a pleasant wine, delicious on a warm sunny day on the balcony, but it's not a wine which I would drink by itself. I might drink a glass or two after grilling meat, but it's too sweet for me by itself. I prefer dry wines.

Wine: Eberbach-Schäfer Romeo and Julia

I'm happy to say that my local shop has another two wines from Eberbach-Schäfer that I haven't drunk before. So far I've drunk 12 different wines from the vineyard, which has been in the hands of the Eberbach family since 1660. If I've counted correctly, they make 40 different wines. If the shop sold them all, I'd work my way through them, one at a time, but it's only a small corner shop that specialises in fruit and vegetables. There's not much room for wine, and they usually have a selection of about five different wines.

I've decided to review the two wines together simply because of the names. I don't want to separate Romeo and Julia. Do the names have any significance? I don't know. Could it be one wine is for men and the other for women? That's not the impression I get when drinking them, although I've been told that women like to drink rosé.

Romeo is made from Lemberger grapes, so I expected a strong fruity taste, but I was still surprised by its overwhelming fruitiness. It's been months since I last drank Eberbach-Schäfer's standard Lemberger, so it's difficult for me to compare. Based on memory, it's not as fruity as the Romeo. I ran back to the shop to buy a bottle of Lemberger for comparison, but they don't have it in stock at present. The Romeo has an exceptionally fruity taste for a medium dry wine.

Julia is a wine made from Spätburgunder and Samtrot grapes, with a hint of Lemberger added. It has a powerful, refreshing taste. It's a perfect wine for a hot summer day. It's nowhere near as fruity as the Romeo, but it's just as enjoyable. It has a subtle acidity, hardly noticeable. I often say that wine should be drunk for enjoyment, not to get drunk, but this is a wine that's changed my mind. One glass isn't enough. The Romeo is a wine for slow sipping, but the Julia is a wine to be quaffed.

Today I drank the two wines together, separated only by a glass of water in between to remove the taste of the Romeo. I still have two half bottles, and I'll drink each by itself. Life is good.

Wine: Eberbach-Schäfer Chardonnay

I drink wines from the Eberbach-Schäfer vineyard regularly. I have my favourites, especially the Trollinger and the Spätburgunder-Lemberger. Occasionally I drink a Riesling, although I admit that that I prefer the Lehrensteinfelder Salzberg Riesling.

On Monday I saw a bottle of Eberbach-Schäfer Chardonnay in the corner store. I'd already seen it advertised on the Eberbach-Schäfer website, but this was the first time I'd seen it in the shop. So I bought it and waited till it had cooled it to an appropriate temperature.

A few words about the Chardonnay grape. It's one of the most widely cultivated wine grapes worldwide. It's most commonly used for sparkling wine, but several vineyards also offer it as a normal wine. It's popular with vintners, especially in small vineyards, because the grapes are very easy to grow, resistant to the weather and ripening early in the season. Unlike other grapes, Chardonnay takes a lot of the flavour from the ground, so there's no consistency in flavour from one location to another.

I was curious how the wine would taste. The first few sips shocked me with the wine's acidity. My first thoughts were "not as good as Riesling", but as I continued drinking I got used to the taste and was impressed by the fruitiness.

I drank the wine late on Monday evening and forgot to put it back in the fridge. Last night I decided to drink a glass anyway, and I was amazed. At room temperature (about 14 C) it tasted much better. It was one of the most deliciously fruity white wines I've ever tasted.

Shall I buy it again? Maybe. There's no more of it in the shop, and I don't want to order online, but I'll watch out for it.

Wine: Besigheimer Felsengarten Grauburgunder

I don't often drink Grauburgunder ("Grey Burgundy") wines. They're not a typical wine for the Württemberg area where I live. It's a much more common wine in Baden. Yes, I know that Baden and Württemberg have been combined into one state, i.e. Baden-Württemberg, but the two areas have distinctly different wines. Putting it simply, in Baden mostly white wines are made, in Württemberg mostly red wines.

I'm drinking a glass of this wine while listening to Klaus Schulze's final album, "Deus Arrakis", which was released this month posthumously. I'm not reviewing the album in my regular Klaus Schulze posts, because it would be out of order. I'll get to it eventually.

This is a dry wine with a slightly acidic taste. The first impression was a shock to my taste buds, but as I continued I grew used to the taste and enjoyed it more. Nevertheless, it's not a wine I'll drink again soon. If I want a white wine, I'll drink a Riesling. Grauburgunder wines are an acquired taste.

Wine: Rolf Willy Lemberger Weißherbst

It's been more than a year since I last wrote a wine review. Does that mean I haven't been drinking wine? No way! I often drink wine, and I've been drinking more since I was discharged from hospital two months ago. My stomach is still playing up, and wine is one of the few pleasures I can still enjoy. I usually drink a glass late at night, shortly before bed.

The reason I haven't been writing about wine is because I've been drinking wines that I've written about in the past. I don't write about the same wine more than once, or at least I haven't done so until now. Maybe I'll do it if I change my mind significantly about a wine.

Over the last 12 months I've been drinking the Eberbach-Schäfer wines that I love so much, but I've also been drinking the Rolf Willy Samtrot Spätlese, which I still consider my favourite wine. It's not so easy to buy. It isn't stocked by my local stores. Apart from that, it costs about twice as much as the Eberbach-Schäfer wines.

"Weißherbst" is a type of wine that's exclusive to Germany, made according to strict rules. It's made in a similar way to Rosé wines, but it's only allowed to be made with one type of grape from one location. Most (though not all) Rosé wines are a mixture of different grapes. Another difference is that Weißherbst usually has a higher alcoholic content than Rosé, which is brought about by picking the grapes later in the season.

I'm never sure whether to drink Weißherbst wines cooled or at room temperature. Yesterday I drank a glass at room temperature, and I didn't enjoy it. The wine had an acidic taste that clashed with the natural sweetness. Today I cooled the wine first. Much better! The acidity is hardly noticeable. Despite the strong flavour of the Lemberger grapes, there's a pleasant sweetness. It's a very refreshing wine. I'm drinking in the evening as I write this, but I can imagine this would be a good wine to drink outside on a sunny day.

After a random visit to a supermarket in a nearby city I stocked up with a variety of wines that I haven't drunk before, so I'll be writing about wine more often in the next few weeks.

Wine: Rolf Willy Samtrot Spätlese

I actually drank a whole bottle of this wine before I was ready to write about it. I'm on my second bottle now. I picked up the first bottle at random from a supermarket because I wanted to try something new. The labels written in an amusing font attracted my attention, and the supermarket Edeka in Kallenberg had a large selection of their wines, so why not? I could have picked up one of their cheaper wines, but this Spätlese had a ruby red colour that appealed to me.

I could easily have been disappointed. Picking a wine based on its colour and its label is no way for a serious wine drinker to select a wine. In fact, it's the proof that I'm not a serious wine drinker.

Wow! There was no disappointment at all. The wine hit my taste buds immediately with a silky red sweetness, and there was a bitter sting in the tail. The aftertaste is much dryer than the initial impression. I don't usually like sweet wines, but this is a wine that's both sweet and unsweet at the same time. I don't know how to describe it correctly. It's simply delicious. It's the first wine I've tasted that I feel I could get addicted to. One glass isn't enough. One bottle isn't enough.

This is a wine that I'd like to share with my friends. Are there any volunteers? I mean friends who live close to me. I want to pour you a glass, then watch the look on your face as you take your first sip. I hope you'll be as overwhelmed as I was.

The Rolf Willy vineyard is based in Nordheim in the north of Württemberg. It's named after the previous owner who has now retired and has passed the vineyard on to his three sons. They have an area of 2.2 square kilometers, a relatively large area, which is reflected in the large variety of wines they produce.

Wine: Besigheimer Felsengarten Müller-Thurgau

This is an interesting wine. The Müller-Thurgau grape is hardly grown in Württemberg, so I was surprised to see it offered by the Besigheimer Felsengarten. It's a grape that I associate with the central German regions of Rhein-Hessen and Pfalz.

It's a grape created in 1882 in Switzerland by Hermann Müller from Thurgau by crossing Riesling and Silvaner grapes. The resulting grape tastes similar to Riesling, but it ripens earlier in the season, making it less vulnerable to early frost. Ironically, the vines themselves are less hardy than Riesling. The harsh frost of 1978-1979 wiped out the Müller-Thurgau vines in Baden and Württemberg. Since then vintners have been reluctant to plant them again, which is why it's a rare grape in Württemberg.

Müller-Thurgau is well known outside of Germany as the grape used in the Blue Nun wine, which can be found in most British and American supermarkets. It's a sweet white wine which I personally find disgusting, despite its general popularity. When people in England talk about German wine, they're talking about Blue Nun. Serious wine connoisseurs reject Blue Nun, so they assume that all German wines are bad.

There's another common German wine in Britain called Liebfraumilch. This isn't a protected brand name, it's a type of wine, so it can vary greatly depending on where it was produced. Most brands of Liebfraumilch are a cuvée of Riesling and Müller-Thurgau in varying percentages. The only thing common to all brands of Liebfraumilch is that it tastes sweet, though not quite as sweet as Blue Nun.

Theoretically, it's possible to make a dry wine from Müller-Thurgau grapes. In practise, this is rarely done. In Germany it's considered a sweet wine, so it would confuse customers to offer them a dry variation.

It's been many years since I last tasted Blue Nun, but today I could recognise the similarity. Müller-Thurgau has a distinctive taste. Maybe some wine drinkers would appreciate the wine that I drank today. Besigheimer Felsengarten only sells good wines, after all, but it's not for me. I'm not arrogant enough to call it a bad wine, but it tastes bad to me.