(Manfred Klimek)
Before the train arrives in Freiburg in Baden, I need to round off my column from a fortnight ago with a few wines from the Domäne Wachau, which I discussed in that column. Although the estate produces some truly superb wines from a variety of grape varieties – including very rare white wine grapes such as Neuburger and Roter Veltliner – I’m sticking with Austria’s best-known grape variety: Grüner Veltliner. The Veltliner Federspiel Ried Kollmütz 2024 in a magnum bottle (1.5 litres, €25.00) is, for me, the best party wine with site character this summer: fresh, spicy, with bite and sophistication – an easy-going jack-of-all-trades. At €28.00, the 2024 Veltliner Smaragd from the Axpoint vineyard is a safe bet for a Veltliner that isn’t overly peppery or spicy, but rather elegant and Burgundian in style – one that, once given a little air in the glass, really comes into its own. The Smaragd Veltliners from the world-renowned top vineyards of Achleiten and Kellerberg (both €46.00) are precise, masterfully crafted Veltliners, vinified to deliver an impressive mouthfeel: without any fuss or trendy gimmicks, and with plenty of punch – wines that deserve more attention. Especially as we can leave them to mature in the cellar for years.
With these impressions on my palate, I leave Austria and head west. The Danube disappears, the landscape narrows, then opens out towards Tyrol, and the mountains recede. Eventually, Basel, the Rhine and the Vosges – and the Black Forest – come into view from the train window. I reach the Markgräflerland, that far south-western corner of Germany on the border with France and Switzerland, which is surprisingly little known to German wine drinkers. Yet the Markgräflerland is a paradise for pub-goers and wine drinkers par excellence, whose carefree zest for life presents a completely different picture of the Germans – a people often maligned as killjoys – than that of the locals who live here. Life here is good and affordable.
To understand the Markgräflerland, one must consider a grape variety that we still mostly call ‘Gutedel’ to this day. Yet this is precisely the only problem with the variety and its marketing, for ‘Gutedel’ conjures up images of package holidays, club outings and that aspect of German wine culture which has been laboriously overcome for decades. Internationally, the variety is known as Chasselas. And it is currently one of the most interesting white grape varieties in Europe.
Chasselas is, in fact, the premier white grape variety of French-speaking Switzerland. That is why it is regarded in Switzerland as one of the continent’s finest terroir-driven varieties. And yet: some German Chasselas wines are significantly better than those from Switzerland. The winemakers of the Markgräflerland are becoming increasingly aware of this, too.
Aromatically, Chasselas shuns any form of showmanship: no exotic fruit baskets, no overpowering primary fruit. Instead, there are notes of pear, white flowers, pink grapefruit, a hint of mandarin, sometimes lime blossom, sometimes acacia. As the wine matures, those subtle notes of hazelnut and even walnut emerge, which transform great Chasselas into great white wines.
It is precisely this controlled neutrality of Chasselas that makes the variety so valuable. Even with a more concentrated style of vinification, the wine retains a remarkable composure. It does not overpower the food, but rather complements it: fish of all kinds, oysters, mussels, Asian dishes, herb-based cuisine, goat’s cheese or white meat all benefit from precisely this quality – Chasselas enhances flavours rather than masking them.
Added to this is something that is likely to become even more important in viticulture in the coming decades: broad appeal, a refined texture and easy drinkability with low alcohol content. Whilst other regions are currently searching feverishly for answers to many consumers’ desire for lighter wines, Chasselas has possessed these qualities for centuries. I will now be reporting on this and on the Markgräflerland region over the course of several episodes.