It was a sunny June afternoon in 2011, and I was pulling into Weingut Wagner-Stempel’s resplendent courtyard for the first time. My future friend, Oliver Müller, was busy pouring wine samples to a number of guests who enjoyed their sips under the merciful shade of a 300-year-old chestnut tree. I introduced myself and I’ll never forget the bewildered expression on Oliver’s face when I told him that I had come from Canada in search of Riesling.