Young German vintners finding new paths

As the grape harvesting season approaches, vintners are gearing up to pick the fruits of the summer. A new generation of German vintners is charting its own course, working together to promote regional wines over mass produced imports flooding the discount markets. Their philosophy is that competition is healthy, when there’s a level playing field, and when they’re cooperating towards the same goal – to strengthen the position of young German regional producers worldwide.

Unlike their parents, this generation of vintners is forming associations of friendship and business where they’re working together to develop strategies to market their wines.

Young vintners have formed organizations in the famous German winegrowing regions in the Franken, Mosel, Pfalz, Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Württemberg, and the lesser known Nahe and Ahr areas. The young vintners meet regularly to discuss their wines and exchange ideas about production methods and marketing.

Producing their own wines

For the Südpfalz Connexion in the western town of Gräfenhausen this exchange wasn’t enough. They decided to make a special wine, the Gräfenhausener Edelburgunder, a burgundy from Gräfenhausen. This wine used to be the best and most exclusive in the Pfalz region, but it has become forgotten in recent years.    

The five young members of the Südpfalz Connexion have also been working on the Edelburgunder since 2002. This wine is not a typical burgundy, but with its fruity flavor and velvety texture it’s receiving international praise. It’s fermented in wood barrels, as is traditional in the Pfalz.

And the Südpfalz Connexion is not alone. Many young vintners associations are creating their own wines, marketing them under the group’s own brand names. This enables them to develop a collective marketing strategy to communicate their unique wines to the world in a time of increasingly lower-quality imports hitting the store shelves.

The Rheinhessen Five is a similar group of five young vintners that formed their organization in the town of Ingelheim along the left bank of the Rhine River in 2003. The region’s known for some outstanding red wines like Pinot Noir and the naturally sweet Silvaner. The Rheinhessen Five is now labeling its own Cuvée which is particularly rare in Germany. These five vintners are now selling over 120,000 bottles of their wine annually!

Another group of 37 young vintners in Germany’s famous Rheingau region known for its Riesling has developed its own version of the classic, the Rheingauer Leichtsinn, which is sold in an opalescent bottle. Their Leichtsinn, which is German for carefree, is a sparkling wine made from Riesling grapes.

Wine as history

This generation of vintners seems particularly interested in exploring German regional wines, some of which have gone into a kind of extinction over the past half century. Germany's economic and strategic position in Europe has grown in recent years, and the younger generation is interested in reviving some of its centuries-old traditions. 

Germany has been producing wine since the arrival of the Romans. German wines are generally more delicate than French or Italian ones because of the region’s mild, humid climate. Somewhere around 100 grape varieties are cultivated in Germany, most coming from the areas along the Rhein and Mosel Rivers in the west of the country along the border with France.