Weingut Darting

Formidable five - presenting the Wine Rambler favourite German Wines of 2012

Julian — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:22:22 +0000

Formidable five - presenting the Wine Rambler favourite German Wines of 2012

We could not leave the waning year behind without giving you the official shortlist you've all been nervously waiting for. Just to make sure you don't get the wrong impression: This is a highly subjective parade. It's ours alone, and it's in no way a comprehensive ranking. The following are simply those that impressed and delighted us most out of the minuscule drop of German Wine ocean that we happen to have sampled over the past year. It so happens that all of them were from past vintages, rather than fresh out of the 2011 barrels, but again, that is in no way a judgement on the qualities (or lack thereof) of the current vintage.

Julian Monday, 31/12/2012

Weingut Darting, Dürkheimer Hochbenn, Muskateller Eiswein, 1999

torsten — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:05:40 +0000

Weingut Darting, Dürkheimer Hochbenn, Muskateller Eiswein, 1999

"Torsten and Julian have this wine blog, and they mostly review sweet wines." This is how a friend introduced the Wine Rambler at a dinner party - much to my surprise as sweet wines make up only a relatively small amount of our wine reviews: not even 1/6 and even with the off-dry ones added we don't quite come to 2/7. Perhaps my outspoken love for Mosel Riesling (which tends to be off-dry or sweet) contributed to this image, or it is just the general perception that German wine is sweet. Instead of fighting this cliché today I shall give in to it. Let's not just drink sweet, let's indulge in sweet.

Ladies and Gentlemen, friends of sweetness and sugar hounds, I give you an ice wine from the Pfalz.

torsten Thursday, 06/12/2012

Weingut Darting, Huxelrebe Beerenauslese, Forster Schnepfenflug, 2003

torsten — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 08:00:22 +0000

Weingut Darting, Huxelrebe Beerenauslese, Forster Schnepfenflug, 2003

It may sound otherwise, but Huxelrebe is neither a reason to shout "Gesundheit" nor an infectious disease. Instead, it is one of the grape cross-breeds created in Germany in the 1920s, and like many of those it is now mostly grown in Germany and England. Huxelrebe is a very high yielding variety that easily reaches high sugar levels, but it can produce high quality wines if yields are reduced.

You will find dry Huxelrebe ("Rebe" means "vine"), but mostly they are sweet dessert wines, like this one from the Pfalz.

torsten Monday, 25/04/2011