Germany: A more discerning Deutschland

Having shaken off its ‘cheap and sweet’ image, Germany ought now to capitalise on its reputation for quality, agreed a recent Wines of Germany trade panel.

“Has the time come again for German Riesling?” is an oft asked question, usually with a negative response, sadly.

Blessed with a recent string of good vintages, littered with personable winemakers making excellent wines and loved by the trade, Germany should be up and running. So why isn’t it after all these years and so many false starts?

Public misconceptions and terminology came out as two of the starkest problems facing the German wine industry at the “German Wine Question Time” hosted by Wines of Germany in May. On a more positive note, as noted by the question panel – and indeed as has also been variously raised in conversation with buyers at Fine+Rare and Justerini & Brooks – drier German wines, such as the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter’s (VDP) Grosses Gewächs (GG), are gaining some traction in the on-trade.

Furthermore, it was suggested that perhaps the time has come to broaden Germany’s scope and introduce German Pinot Noir to consumers more as well.

First though, the problems; namely the consumer’s misconception that all German wine is sweet and cheap and that the labels are too confusing, unpronounceable and, thus, are too difficult a sell.

The worst days of Liebfraumilch now gone, it was agreed by the panel that German wine has undergone an enormous transformation in terms of quality and consistency. Andrea Ruggeri, wine consultant at Matthew Clark, remarked that: “All German wine today is of good quality.”

Yet still the bad, or misguided, image persists. Germany needs to show consumers that it does dry wines too and does them well. Having been accused of being only “cheap and sweet”, German wine has risen to the challenge and since 2007 the German Wine Institute (DWI) reports that the production of dry wine has risen steadily, reaching 40% overall in 2010, a long way from 1985’s 16% share. Likewise, production of sweeter wine has decreased gradually since 1985 and now makes up 36%.

Germany, though, has a problem. It’s a good problem but one that is restrictive when it comes to exports, namely supply and demand. Simply put, Germany just doesn’t produce enough to satisfy both multiple export markets and its large domestic market. As Andrew Bird, BWS director at Marks & Spencer, said: “There simply isn’t enough of a critical mass.”

The DWI’s latest figures for Germany show 102,000 hectares under vine, less than Bordeaux, with an average harvest of nine million hectolitres. However, Germany is one of the world’s biggest wine-drinking nations, consuming some 20.3m hl in 2009, some way ahead of the UK’s 12.7m hl.

In 2009 the DWI estimates that Germany exported some 2.1m hl from a harvest of 9.2m hl, so well over half of the production stayed at home.

Another problem is that the home market wants dry wines over sweet for the same reasons as in the UK. With production of dry wines still so small though and as most of it stays at home, it is little wonder that Germany has struggled to change its image and get back into markets such as the UK.

Not that it particularly needs to export large amounts and perhaps that is a point worth considering.
Why hunt volume when you can court value? Does Germany need to chase volume? Richard Halstead, Wine Intelligence’s chief operating officer, put it this way: “Germany has to ask itself, ‘what do we want to do? Volume or value?’ With volume you have to lower cost and that’ll get you in the end. With value you have to be specific, targeted, patient and consistent.”

Germany is certainly the latter. So value it must surely be. After all, Germany lost its reputation with cheap products and perhaps should revel in the fact that what it does best is produce some of the world’s greatest white wines, which command proper prices.

It needs to be selling itself to consumers in a higher, better-educated end of the market and it shouldn’t be scared of that.

As Steffen Schindler, marketing director of the DWI, noted, “We should focus on value. We could be very happy in our niche.”

With the home market taking most of the supply and export markets in Scandinavia, the Low Countries and the US also healthy, it’s not as if Germany is casting around desperately for buyers. It can afford to pursue a limited section of the market. Bird added: “You have to pick your fights and Germany needs to pick medium-high whites and high reds.”

As for the thorny issue of German wine labels and terminology, Bird noted: “Sadly, the English-speaking public is intimidated by the German language.”

At the debate, there was talk of producing labels for certain sections of the market that cut out the more complicated aspects of German wine labelling. Halstead commented: “The least amount of rule-based stuff you can put on the label the better. They should ask themselves, ‘what bits of our uniqueness do we want to keep? But what can we put on the back label?’”

However, one can’t entirely escape the feeling that the producers are being asked to compromise to spare our blushes. We can’t sell their wines but apparently it’s all their fault. Schloss Johannisberg’s director, Christian Witte, displayed his obvious frustration with this attitude by saying: “Sometimes everyone needs to stop complaining that German wine is too complicated and learn about it.”

The VDP is at great pains to simplify the more confusing aspects of the German wine laws and tries to encourage its members to make their labels clearer. A great many producers have modernised their labels of late and gothic script is less of an issue. Think of the clean, simple, carefully presented labels of Fritz Haag, Prinz von Hessen, Reichsgraf von Kesselstadt or Castell to name but a few.

A touch of classification?

Perhaps at entry level some kind of simplistic labelling would be useful but litre bottles of “Hock” have never claimed to be anything special and, as noted above, Germany should be trying to distance itself from cheaper products.

The other problem is that as Riesling is such a versatile grape variety it needs a system of classification to give some indication of what is inside the bottle. Alsace has neglected this of late and is criticised for it as a result, no one knows what to expect from one wine to the next.

The German system may not be perfect but again the VDP is encouraging all of its producers to use the Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese Prädikats as an ascending sweetness scale to lend it some kind of uniform structure. But the other joy of Germany is that each region is so distinct from its neighbour and its vineyards so varied.

The statement made by Christine Parkinson, group buyer for Hakkasan, that “consumers shut down with too much information”, surely lends greater emphasis on the need for German wines to focus on those consumers who are interested in knowing more.

In Germany’s favour, though, is the fact that it places the grape variety to the fore on the label. It is no secret that consumers often buy on what they recognise, varieties chief among them. What needs greater addressing is the terminology.

Bird proclaimed that the “language of ‘dry’ and ‘sweet’ needs to be reclaimed”.

The old problem of what the consumer says it likes and what the consumer actually likes is a big hindrance. Parkinson said that when the consumer asks for fruity they’re given something off-dry “and they love it”.

Yet if one suggested they try something even slightly sweet it is most unlikely they would have been quite so enthusiastic.

Should Germany try and sell by stealth? Bird suggested that adding German wines in mixed cases was a way of “surprising and delighting by stealth”. This is a not-unreasonable suggestion, but is it just a way of avoiding tackling the situation head on?

Reds vs whites

Finally the promotion of Pinot Noir, Germany’s second grape and Riesling’s partner in what the VDP describes as the “Dream Team”.
However, due to high domestic demand for red rather than white wine, high production costs and a fiercely competitive market, it was noted that perhaps Germany’s white grapes might be easier to promote.

Why try and persuade Germany’s producers to give the UK their expensive and difficult-to-sell Pinot, which they can sell in Germany with relative ease, when the UK could take Germany’s excellent but increasingly neglected dry whites to build up a better image at last?

As was pointed out by Halstead: “The opportunity for new styles in white wine is greater than it’s ever been.”

Parkinson agreed saying: “I want to see more Silvaner. I do find it easier to launch new white wines in the on-trade.”

Other members of the panel concurred. David Brown, marketing manager at Justerini & Brooks, said: “I wouldn’t put all of my faith into Pinot Noir as I think it is a long way from breaking through. At £15-£35 it will always be competing against top Burgundy and it will always be a challenge.”

However, there were possible opportunities for it. Brown did suggest that if the focus was on “really top-end Pinot Noir it could filter down through private sales”.

Bird also added that the possible competition wasn’t a bad lot to go up against. “I think German Pinot could sell very well,” he said. “As for Burgundy and New Zealand, it’s the kind of competition you’d be pleased to have.”

What came out of the panel session more than anything was the nagging feeling that compromise will have to be the order of the day if Germany is to achieve any kind of success on a wide scale in the UK.

But running counter to that was the sense that Germany should stick to its guns and focus on high-end sectors of the trade where their wines can be hand-sold to consumers who are interested and willing to pay more for good wine.

German wine is a unique product, its named sites are extraordinarily diverse, it’s an old wine-producing country proud of its history and has an image that reflects that.

These should be used as selling points not as excuses. Brown agreed, saying: “We must get away from seeing difference and diversity as a negative thing. The thought of ‘generic Riesling’ is horrifying.”

The dynamics of the US market are very different to those of the UK with regards German wine. Luckily for them they have none of the hang-ups associated with Liebfraumilch, yet still their marketing of German Riesling is bullish.

Matt Stinton, sommelier at Restaurant Hearth in New York City, reports that his manager makes Riesling the only by-the-glass option for a whole month in August. That may be a step too far here in the UK but it is a clear example of the trade actively promoting something rather than merely hoping consumers will root it out for themselves.

When one considers what has been done to turn around the fortunes of the once so unpopular and neglected Sherry in this country, it is worth remembering what can be done with a bit of a concerted effort.

If consumers really are more openminded and experimental than ever, as is so often claimed, surely a few would be amenable to some tastings in retailers or a greater range of Rieslings by the glass in restaurants?

Perhaps Riesling week this July is a chance for the UK trade to really show just how much it loves German wine.