31 Days of German Riesling winners named

The on- and off-trade trade winners of this year’s ’31 Days of Riesling’ have been announced in what was another record year for the initiative.

Although London venues remain the core of the competition’s participants, there was a marked uptick in participants from outside the capital, particularly in Scotland and northern England.

Overall, 200 restaurants and independent merchants took part in over 70 towns and cities across the UK.

The campaign encourages both on- and off-trade venues to sing the praises of Germany’s leading variety and encourage tastings for an entire month (July). The more enthusiastic and creative the approach, the better.

Collectively, businesses taking part in the campaign listed an additional 100 new German Rieslings during the campaign’s July run and the average sales increase of German Riesling jumped 300%.

Around 98% of those who took part said they would consider doing so again.

The winner in the on-trade sector was The Hind’s Head in Bray, with Birmingham’s Arch 13 at Connolly’s coming in as runner-up and Halex Vinoteca in London being highly commended.

Lowri Jones, restaurant manager and head sommelier at The Hind’s Head shared: “Our staff loved this campaign. From the fun POS to the staff training we held – everyone was on board and learnt lots about the regions, and were able to share stories with customers. Taking on a few new Rieslings meant that our team all had something new to present to diners too. The sparkling Sekt we listed was a real hit.”

Wined Up Here in Kingston upon Thames was the winner in the off-trade category, while London’s Blanco & Gomez was runner-up and Cork & Cask of Edinburgh was highly commended.

Wined Up Here’s owner, Charlotte Dean, said: “We thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the 31 Days of German Riesling campaign this year. It’s a fantastic way to give consumers something new to consider and shine a spot light on such a refreshing and summery wine.

“We were lucky to have a producer in town during the campaign, so getting him to host an in-store tasting was really great fun and consumers loved it – it encouraged good sales too. We’re looking to build on our campaign for next year and highlight the beautiful German wine growing regions as holiday destinations – and ultimately to get our consumers thinking about German wine in a completely different way.”

Nicky Forrest, MD of Wines of Germany UK commented: “We are thrilled to see that the UK is still thirsty for more German Riesling. In the eighth year of the campaign we have had a record-breaking number of participants, which shows how enthusiasm for Riesling, and German wines in general, is on the rise. We have a strong base to build on here for our ninth season in 2020 and we’ll be reaching out to consumers directly too to get them involved…watch this space.”