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Rheingau producers push label simplicity
Rheingau producers are looking to a more Burgundian way of classifying their wines and simplifying the look of their labels to try and help clear up much of the confusion that often clouds German wines.
Weingut Baron Knyphausen is particularly keen to use the Burgundian pyramid system of classifying its wines, believing that it would also allow it to better express each site’s individuality.
Speaking to the drinks business at the Great Rheingau Riesling Review 2011, Stanley Bronisz of Grape Vault Wine Investments said that the Burgundian system would enable estates to “express each vineyard with a wine rather than making lots of wines from one. It would make everything even more terroir-driven.”
Bronisz continued by saying that the system could also see estates not releasing a vintage from specific sites in certain years if the wine wasn’t good enough.
Other producers are not necessarily following the Burgundian system yet but have already looked at streamlining their labels, cutting sprawling coats of arms down to recognisable badges on plainer labels with non-gothic script.
Paul Graf von Schönborn of Domänenweingut Schloss Schönborn, explained that: “Label confusion exists in Germany too. I believe that the less you put on a label the more you say. Further information you can put on the back. Then as you go up in Prädikat and site specifics you can add more.”
Rupert Millar, 03.03.2011
What a good idea; Burgundy is renowned for it’s simplicity.
Yes, why not strip down everything that’s unique about German wine…
I like Riesler’s sense of irony. Having received a certain amount of flak for my thoughts on bottles, I hesitate to get too involved with this issue, but here goes…
If producers in the Old or New World have enough customers who are ready to pay the price they are asking for their complicatedly labelled bottles, they should go on using them. If not, they should make them as clear and comprehensible as the consumers want. Of course, involving the consumer in the argument goes against the grain, but the European wine industry, according to a recent Rabobank report, is largely financially no longer viable if subsidies were to be removed and proper returns on investment required. So maybe something needs to be done, somehow, by someone, sometime… But don’t hold your breath.