This week in Düsseldorf, Germany, ProWein celebrates its thirtieth year of leading trade show programming for the wine and spirits industry. It’s a massive undertaking in the “mini city” of the Messe Düsseldorf fairgrounds, with some 50,000 trade visitors and 5700 exhibitors from 60 countries.
It’s a lot of ground to cover, literally and figuratively.
I’ve learned by this point that, in my role as a very interested observer and happy wanderer through the halls, it helps exponentially to have a plan or at least a series of “tips” that provide a direction to head toward. For me, it started before it started, meaning that my first tip paid off the evening before the trade fair itself officially began, with a special producer-hosted event away from the fairgrounds and within the city of Düsseldorf. It’s fitting that this kick-off to ProWein featured Riesling, Germany’s most iconic and associated grape.
That’s where we’ll begin this list of three favorite tastes that punctuated this ProWein 2024 for me.
Normally when listing a wine we include the numerical vintage, or the year the fruit was harvested to make the wine. One of the attractions of this wine is that what’s “normal” is impossible, at least so far as listing one vintage or year: the bottle of Dreissigacker’s Vintages Riesling that was featured at this “in town” tasting actually contains wine from multiple recent vintages, much the same way that a bottle of Champagne labeled “NV” (or non-vintage) contains wine that’s been drawn from the harvest of several years. It’s a reference point for Dreissigacker but not a firmly- or blindly-held beacon, as they chart their own course very decidedly on several fronts. It’s also a choice, made now, that makes a lot of sense commercially as the brand positions itself for a future of possibly dicey harvests: blending multiple vintages of wine together helps a brand to hedge its bets, so to speak, against any one or two unfavorable climate change-influenced harvests.
The influence of climate change has made the conversation a reality about top-quality wine at higher latitudes, such as in England. English wineries have already seen their share of success in sparkling wines and, more and more, the conversation is turning to still wines from these producers. I’d had a tip from a friend about very good English Pinot Noir, and I went hunting for it at the trade show stand for Great Britain.
I found what I was looking for in the 2022 Luke’s Pinot Noir from Balfour Winery in Kent, and I was also intrigued by my first taste of a hybrid grape (there’s that climate change influence again) called Bacchus at Lyme Bay Winery. But what turned my head, in the best way, was the 2021 Chardonnay from Danbury Ridge. The winemaker at the stand had to coax me to try it – I was determinedly on the hunt for Pinot – but this wine was eye-opening. Not because I was expecting it to be bad (we are past that point with English wines) but because it was quite so good. Crisp, mindful, crafted with a clearly experienced and somehow droll hand. A favorite from the whole fair.
A drawback of a major wine trade show in the month of March in Germany is that it’s mid-harvest in the southern hemisphere, where the winemakers themselves, from places like New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and South America, are sometimes tethered to their vineyards and unable to attend in person. Fortunately sales teams and communicators go in their stead, educated and ready to share perspectives and insights from the ground, so to speak.
Which means that Bodega Garzón, in Uruguay, is gearing up right now for their annual harvest party. The lion’s share of what’s being harvested across the large estate, if it hasn’t been harvested already, is Albariño, which will ultimately be fermented and bottled in a number of ways and a variety of offerings. Garzón’s “Petit Clos” line is top-end and meticulously true to each varietal’s expression. What most caught my attention, however, was actually the Albariño Reserva from slightly lower down the portfolio line. I was intrigued by the gentle use and “infiltration” of oak for this grape that doesn’t usually see it, along with the tropical fruit and citrus top notes coursing through this coastal, southern hemisphere offering.
Full disclosure: I am attending ProWein for the purpose of presenting an hour-long session about Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the wine industry, from the vineyard to the bottle to the end consumer. The session is part of ProWein’s educational ancillary program.