31 Days of Riesling winners announced

A St Andrews wine shop and one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants have been named the winners of this year’s 31 Days of German Riesling.

The annual competition held by Wines of Germany sees the on- and off-trades invited to promote German Riesling in fun and innovative ways for the entirety of July.

This year’s competition was described as “record-breaking” with over 45,000 consumers in 160 bars, restaurants and shops across the UK sampling Germany’s flagship variety.

The “Riesling Retailer of the Year” award went to Luvians Bottle Shop in St Andrews for its ‘Game of Thrones” inspired campaign while “Riesling Restaurant of the Year” went to Gordon Ramsay’s London House in Battersea.

The runner-up in the off-trade category was The Wine Reserve in Surrey, while The Winery in Maida Vale, Harrogate Fine Wine Company and Handfords in South Kensington were all highly commended.

In the on-trade, The Radcliffe in Hertfordshire was the runner-up while The Jugged Hare in Barbican and The Remedy in Fitzrovia were highly commended for their efforts.

The winners and runner-ups will all be given funds towards new German listings.

Nicky Forrest, managing director of Wines of Germany UK, commented: “The enthusiasm for Riesling has been amazing this year and we witnessed a real buzz around the grape variety throughout July. We have been thoroughly impressed with the fun and creative activities that have taken place all across the UK and found selecting the winners harder than ever this year.”