German Riesling

Schätzel - Mad Scientist Trocken

Schätzel - Mad Scientist Trocken

One of the most exciting things about tasting through any wine region is hearing about different grower’s tactics to overcome challenges and usher beautiful wines into being. Despite the potentially enormous variation of strategies voiced, each proffered as if any other pursuit would result in abject failure, one can taste countless collections of compelling and delicious wines. However, nobody else that I know who's achieving such high levels of quality with Riesling is doing so through such idiosyncratic methods as Kai Schätzel.

2020 German Riesling: The Drinkle Report

2020 German Riesling: The Drinkle Report

One thing that humans the world over have learned in the last 18 months is that instead of getting excited about upcoming events, we should always be preparing our hearts for potential shattering. And yet, is that a reason to stop making plans? Perhaps it is. But encouraged by my wife who had noticed certain, um, irregularities in my personality, I booked flights to Germany with the intention of simply spending time alone in the most inspiring nature that I know of. That being said, I have friends in German wine country who I felt obligated to notify about my plans. Bit by bit, the schedule of my short trip became absolutely packed with visits to winegrowers, interspersed with Covid-19 tests. In other words, it became a trip consisting of immeasurably stimulating and fulfilling work—and Covid-19 tests. But I never allowed myself to believe that it was actually going to happen until I saw Frankfurt airport in the rearview mirror of my rental car.

Metrovino's German Riesling Manifesto

Metrovino's German Riesling Manifesto

German Riesling is absolutely unprecedented in its versatility, and no other style of wine is great in so many different ways. Riesling succeeds on a vast continuum of sweetness, ranging from bone-dry to lusciously sweet, and every single step in between. And along each point of this continuum, perhaps excepting the very sweetest, one will find slim, willowy wines as well as those of great weight and richness, and all that lies betwixt. This is to say that any given vintage in Germany will produce wines that range from 6-14% alcohol, covering everything from gossamer delicacy to raw power.

Introducing Schätzel Riesling

Introducing Schätzel Riesling

Early on in my wine career, I was briefly employed by a regrettably commercial wine agency who was in the process of purging their portfolio of interesting wine. Commissioned with the task of liquidating a few lingering cases of 2005 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese, I naturally took advantage of the situation to pull the cork on a bottle. This precipitated a veritable revelation; the wine didn't just solidify my love for German wine, it turned me into a lifelong Riesling lunatic. Thus, one of my pivotal Riesling epiphanies was catalyzed by a bottle from the Rheinhessen's Rheinfront, or Roter Hang (Red Slope).

2018 Germany: The Drinkle Report

2018 Germany: The Drinkle Report

The interweb is already cluttered with the relevant meteorological data and qualitative assessments of seasoned experts regarding Germany’s 2018 vintage. But as I’m humbly commissioned with the noble task of purchasing Metrovino’s German wine (which some years I responsibly keep under 50 selections), and having just spent two intensive weeks tasting with some of the country’s top producers, my opinion as to what you can look forward to might be relevant. You already know my directive - as a human Riesling solera, I order the wines that I personally want to drink... it’s just a bonus when our palates overlap and you buy a few bottles too!

 
Drink More Better Wine