Interesting blog - the bits I could keep my eyes open for. Typically German too, over-engineer an issue which bothers nobody else in the world.
Most people buy wine by price - nobody gives a pigs ear for ratings over and above a general guideline. The bigger issue that the VDP has is to find a definition of a "Spitzenwein" that doesn't exclude half its membership. Germans love complicated things but complicated things don't make easially marketable objects. But the foreign public already accepts dry wines with food so there is no excuse for not being able to market any kind of German dry wine abroad. The question is how to handle the great German tradition of sweet wines which should, by any measure, be equal in marketing pull to Bordeaux.
Sweet is an ugly word in English - The Yanks got a grip on it by calling it late harvest. What one should do is market the idea of a Select Harvest and then put a price category on the two - Late (Kab - Spät) for 25 to 50 Euros and Select (Aus - Eis) from 50 to 100 a half bottle. Even better if the number of Select bottles were to be of limited numbers AND sold as needing at least 5 years storage. All you need is the image of a busty/lusty German blond peasant testing grapes for sweetness and your export figures will double.
In reply to Firstly, to add another pun by Alexander
Typically German
Interesting blog - the bits I could keep my eyes open for. Typically German too, over-engineer an issue which bothers nobody else in the world.
Most people buy wine by price - nobody gives a pigs ear for ratings over and above a general guideline. The bigger issue that the VDP has is to find a definition of a "Spitzenwein" that doesn't exclude half its membership. Germans love complicated things but complicated things don't make easially marketable objects. But the foreign public already accepts dry wines with food so there is no excuse for not being able to market any kind of German dry wine abroad. The question is how to handle the great German tradition of sweet wines which should, by any measure, be equal in marketing pull to Bordeaux.
Sweet is an ugly word in English - The Yanks got a grip on it by calling it late harvest. What one should do is market the idea of a Select Harvest and then put a price category on the two - Late (Kab - Spät) for 25 to 50 Euros and Select (Aus - Eis) from 50 to 100 a half bottle. Even better if the number of Select bottles were to be of limited numbers AND sold as needing at least 5 years storage. All you need is the image of a busty/lusty German blond peasant testing grapes for sweetness and your export figures will double.