Re-Summit

Back again to the offices of Wildman, this time for a presentation of their German portfolio and along with Austrian wines from Monika Caha and Francois Baur, a family run winery in Alsace.

Baur was represented by Virginie Baur of the 9th generation, the daughter of the current winemaker, Pierre Baur. I first met Virginie when their wines were first being imported to the US in 2000 and I was acting sommelier at Brasserie Perrier. I laso had the chance to visit at their home in Turckheim. I was thoroughly impressed with the wines then and continue to be. A true representation of Alsace style.

Monika Caha has been importing wines through Wildman for about three years. A native of Austria, she displays true passions for the Austrian wines in her portfolio and they are very good. The gruner veltliner grape has become one of my favorite food wines as well as for sipping on the patio. She also had an interesting dry, aromatic muscat and a flinty, tangy sauvignon. The reds have never been better. Too often they can be over extracted and flabby, but her samples of zweigelt and the blaufrankisch had terrific texture and balanced wild brier scented blue fruits.

The German portfolio was focused on the more drier styles. While German wines are associated with sweet wines, the preferred style in Germany is decidedly drier and that is a message they are trying to get out to the public here.

Across the board, these were very good wines. Riesling is enjoying a great deal of popularity today. People need to get better acquainted with the drier styles which are more versatile and better quality.