What Wine Should I Drink for Oktoberfest? - Pinkies Up Ep. 12

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Pinkies Up. Woo woo! Here we aim to answer questions that regular people, like me, have about wine. And on this episode, we are answering the question: what wine should I drink for Oktoberfest?

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to Pinkies Up, a series where we answer questions normal wine drinkers like Bridget have about wine. I'm Nick, and I'm here to answer these questions in a way that makes sense, whether you drink your wine with your pinky up or you drink it in a solo cup. Let's see what's going on this month. Well, well, well, Bridget.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Well, well, well, well.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

We know your favorite time of the year is probably September, late September, early October, Oktoberfest season, birthday season. Big month, big month overall. All of the things, a lot of things happening. You are an expert at the Oktoberfest. Let's get this USA cup out of the middle there.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

We are talking Oktoberfest, but we're drinking out of USA cups because we want you all to know we are good red-blooded Americans. Or it was the available cup. There's a lot of water in it. And I'm okay, so I'm very excited for this one. We know Bridget's a fidujo towards Oktoberfest, but in particular, Oktoberfest beer. If you didn't hear the amoose boosh about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

My love, my love story to Oktoberfest beer.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

My love letter. So um, but what if you want wine? Yeah, there's a lot of great German wine. And Bridget, what do you have to say to my statement that there's a lot of great German wine?

SPEAKER_02 1:20

I disagree. I think there's a lot of sweet German wine that people like that are not me.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

So for this episode of Pinky's Up, I took on the challenge of let's find some German wine that Bridget might like, or more importantly, that you at home might like. But we're gonna make Bridget decide what wine would work for you, who might like these wines. I grabbed seven, seven different German wines. Too many. Red and whites, still and sparkling. Yeah. We're gonna taste them and we're gonna see see what we think.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

I'm pausing because I'm so hesitant here. I I'm on board with sparkling, and I think what I think my prediction is is that I might even like a chilled red in this situation.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

So here's the deal. I'm trying to set everything up for success as much as possible. Uh we know Bridget likes cold drinks very, very cold, and warm drinks very, very warm. Yes, the proper temperature is all I'm asking for. Okay. So we have the white wines super chilled.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

If you're watching on YouTube, you see our massive ice bucket here.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

And we have the proper aromatic white wine glassware that'll also work well for these aromatic reds. And a giant dump bucket. And could you show the giant dump bucket? Because just in case, we have a giant dump bucket. It's a noodle pan. I don't know if that's true, but that's what I'm gonna say it is. Uh it's my sous V pan.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Oh, it's a Sous V pan.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

So we're gonna start with bubbles.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Bubbles, okay, great. So you're setting me up for success to start, huh?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Now, most people know German wine as Riesling. Yes. A lot of people don't know that Riesling can be very dry, very sweet, or somewhere in between. Riesling can also make sparkling wine. Usually, when we think of French sparkling wines is Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Mounier. But Riesling, sparkling wine. Well, proast.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Oh. Wow, I was really expecting it to be like way too sweet.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Did you see that I managed to get that in the trash room here?

SPEAKER_02 3:18

I know. I'm usually very good at that, and I miss every time I'm down here.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

This is alarming to me. Yeah, so this is Robert Weil, uh, Weindegut Robert Weil. Uh, they are a newer German producer, only having started in the 1870s, which is one of the interesting things about German wine. But they uh make this Riesling sect, is what it's called. S-E-K-T. Sect means sparkling in Germany. And the Germans have a very rich tradition of making sparkling wine. They always liked what the French did in Champagne and other places. They, you know, invaded France a number of times and took back a lot of their sparkling wine. So the Germans started uh making their own domestic sparkling wine. They really like it, they drink a lot of it there, but some of it's starting to come to America as we like more sparkling wine, so this is Riesling sec.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Why is this not as like obnoxiously sweet? Two for two with that, Nick. Why is this not as obnoxiously sweet as most Rieslings?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So Rieslin really is a grape that can be a wide variety of styles. Okay. If you let it ripen, it will get very ripe and have a lot of sugar in it. Now you can either ferment that to dry, which will give it a lot of acidity, a lot more aromatics, or you can stop fermentation early, leave a bunch of the sugar in there, and end up with a low alcohol, very sweet wine. It can be good in any of those conditions. A lot of it has to do with where it grows. But this one was fermented to pretty much near dry.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Wow, yeah. I mean, this is I like this.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

So this is a brutt sparkling wine.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, and that's what that was what I was looking at.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

So that means they added a little bit of sugar back, but not too much. They made a dry wine from the Riesling, and there you go. Is it really brutt? Where most people say brut. Yeah, it's brut.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Yeah, it looks like brutt. Okay, interesting. I'm looking at the label because I'm was I I've never seen, I've never noticed this on the shelf, I should say.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah, we don't have this in the store because believe it or not, German Riesling isn't a huge seller. But uh, we really like Robert Weil. They are uh super family producer. Uh remember, it's spelled W-E-I-L. Weil.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

I know I'm really looking forward towards Robert Weil uh pronouncing all of these.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

So that's fun. So we started with bubbles. Do you think people, if you know, they like sparkling wine, this is Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

If you're I yes, 100%. Not if you're the sparkling wine person that wants the sweet sparkling wine, but Shannon, for example, would love this because it's really not too sweet. Um it's also a great option for an Oktoberfest because you're celebrating and it's like if you don't like beer, of course.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

But if you like beer, most people drink the Oktoberfest beer.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

But this is great. I love this as an option that is not painfully sweet. Which I came in with that preconceived notion, everybody. Okay. Next. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

So, Bridget, as you're looking at German wine, something that might also, was that cold enough for you?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

That was lovely. Thanks. I did get worried they weren't gonna be cold enough.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Um, something to look for is this says Trokken. Trokken. So Trokken means dry. Oh, so if you ever see trocken on a label, that means it's gonna be a dry wine. There's plenty of dry wines. Um, a lot of German wine is dry, and in fact, most people are kind of getting away from sweet Rieslings and going more towards dry Riesling. Wow, look at me. But this one is not a Riesling. We have another not Riesling. We're showing the vied world of German vines. So, what we have here is a Weisser Burgunder. We talked about how the Germans continually steal stuff from the French. Well, this is a Pinot Blanc, which is 100% a French grape. And what makes it German, Nick? Well, they call it Weisser Burgunder, which means the white wine from Burgundy. But really, Pinot Blanc doesn't come from Burgundy, it comes from the Alsace, which between the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and World War I was part of Germany.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Wow, that's a stretch.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

It also has blue on the label. It has blue on the label. So anyway, this comes from Weingut Wittmann, which is another really cool family-owned winery that we really like. It's imported by a company called Lucen Brothers. So if you are buying um foreign wines in America, they have to be imported by someone. And if you look for a good importer on the back of the label, that's always a good way to make sure you get a good deal. Lucent Brothers is an excellent producer or importer. They make some wines that import stuff, so look for that. Okay. Um, so this is a dry Pinot Blanc, comes from Germany.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

I don't know anything about Pinot Blanc. Like, I can't think of a not German Pinot Blanc that I've ever had. This might be my first. So I should dump this. So I have nothing to compare it to, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

So there's there's a couple different types of Pinot. There's Pinot Blanc, which is the white Pinot, there's Pinot Gris, which is the gray Pinot, and there's Pinot Noir, which is the red Pinot. And they all are um eventually related to Pinot Blanc. It's the parent grape. It's just a very crisp, dry, aromatic white wine. So if you don't like Pinot Grigio, uh Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris are the same thing. Pinot Bianco, Pinot Blanc are the same thing. Pinot Nero, Pinot, Pinot Noir are the same grain. Italian versus French. The French came up with the first. If you don't like that Pinot Grigio is kind of like too fruity and a little too sweet, but you like kind of a crisp white wine, Pinot Blanc is a great way to go because it's crisper, more aromatic.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Very light bodied.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

That's exactly. I my my non-educated way of saying it would be watery. Um it is crisp and refreshing, but it tastes like ice cubes melted in it for me. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

It was closed when I had it in the ice cubes.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

No, but that's just because it's I like full-bodied wines.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

What I think that's interesting about this is um the best Pinot Blanc in the world comes from the Alsace in France. This tastes very, very similar. It's not grown that far away from it. It's also grown on um riverbanks, just like it is in Alsace. It really is about the same quality as French wine. It's a little bit more money. Um just because of German production. Had to travel farther. Yep. Stuff like that. But um, it's really the same quality.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

It really is nice. Again, you're surprising me that it's not a painful, sweet wine, because again, we all know that's what I came in expecting. It's just not, it's just a little light for me.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And I can't believe you've never had a Pinot Blanc. I don't think I have, unless unless you've fed it to me. The um one of the things too about this is these Pinot Blancs used to not be as good. Um, but climate change has been very kind to the German wine industry. Very helpful. Um, and it's let them ripen some stuff and not have frost and not have mold and and things like that. So the the that is something that's been helpful. So they're growing, I don't want to say normal varietals, but varietals that a lot of us know better, like Pinot Blanc. I'm sorry, Weisser Burgunder.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Weisser Burgunder.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

And um they're really good. So the Germans can make wine.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

So if you want to celebrate Oktoberfest and you like Pinot Blanc, this is this one you could pound a few glasses off. You could drink a boot of this. Yeah, it as Nick did. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Okay, where should we go from here?

SPEAKER_02 10:12

I don't know. I've so far been surprised. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

So let's get into more of what you expect. Givirch demeanor. So I touched on climate change a little bit there, and Germany's always had challenges with getting grapes ripe. They've they've grown grapes forever, wild. Um, and obviously, when Christianity came to Germany, uh sacramental wine's really important. Anywhere priests went, monks went, they had to grow wine. So rich history of growing wine to support sacramental needs. Um so they decided in the 1800s to do some science experiments with their newfound agricultural knowledge. This is this is a time of great innovation and progress. And they they crossed Riesling with some some other grapes to you know hopefully get it to yield better, grow better, all the things. And one of the the creations, kind of like Frankenstein's creation, is called Müller Tergau. And this is a white grape variety created by Ermann Müller. Um, he was from Switzerland, actually. Uh, and it's a crossing of Riesling with Madeline Royale, which I have never heard of in my life. But anyway, the purpose of this kind of wine is to uh be a more hardy, easy to grow, better-yielding version of Riesling. So basically, if you want to pump out wine, Müller Tergau is a great option for you. It had its moment in America in the 2000s because it creates off-dry wine that is cheap. You're not making this sound good at all. And to this day, I have people come in the store and ask for this, and I say, it's not that good. We don't really sell it. But I'll order it for you. But uh, I wanted to bring in this one and try it to see if there is good Mueller-Tergau. This comes from a company called Heeger, uh, that is a very quality-focused uh avant garde German producer. They do biodynamics, things like that. Uh, this is a dry wine, not a sweet one. Oh, okay. You know, I figured let's try it out. If you are of a certain age where you saw some of these new uh German wines really make it in America, you might be interested in Müller Thurgau. Theoretically, it should be aromatic, crisp, delicious, like the nice parts of Riesling, but just a little bit more fruit to it.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

This sounds like I would love it.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Let's see.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Not too sweet, a little fruity, light, crisp, refreshing. But I just don't feel like you set it up very well.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Well, my experience with Mueller Thurgau is when it's garbage. You don't say. But this is this is a this is a different different example. A producer I haven't tried before. Tastes like Riesling, but not as sweet.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

I mean and inexpensive. I would guess this is an inexpensive Riesling at the end.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

It's not very good.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

I mean, I don't this is hard for me because I don't like Riesling.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

So the thing is like good Riesling has a lot of acidity and a lot of structure on the back end. This has like some kind of fruitiness and it's just like a few.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

It just tastes like fruity, watery juice, which is what Riesling has like to me.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

It's not fun on the back end. I mean, it's not bad. Yeah. But it's just like it's like it tastes like a cheap wine. Yeah, it's like 17 bucks retail. Oh, I actually thought it would be cheaper. So it's not cheap. Wow. Sorry. Muller Tergau. Don't buy it. You're gonna see it. Somebody's gonna try and tell you the hipsters are all over Muller Tergau.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

I mean, it's fine. I I just don't think that German effing hipsters. What are you looking for if you're looking for German wine? None of these have been like the greatest wine in the world so far.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Well, Germany makes some of the greatest wines in the world. They're Rieslings, the good quality Rieslings. I'm not wasting any of my good Riesling on you.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Yeah, we've already drank it on some other show podcast episode. But we had our three for three. Didn't we do an Riesling episode?

SPEAKER_00 14:06

I think we did. Okay. Um It's been so long. Yeah, that was disappointing. All right. This one, this one I know you know what this is. This is Giverstrominer. And this comes from Villa Wolf, which is um the importer, Lucent Brothers. Uh their kind of everyday drinking project. They make some very nice wines for about $12 U.S. retail.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Is that what this is or no?

SPEAKER_00 14:29

And this is this is Gewerstraminer.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

So Gverstraminer um is what we always talk about on like dinner plus drinks. That wine should evoke a feeling of memories, of family, and that I will like this regardless of the fact that I really won't like it because it has nice warm memories and happy feelings about um of Tyler's grandpa. Like it will always remind me of that, and so it does its job in that way. I will say that before we do dive in.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Gewerstrominer is another French wine from Alsace that made its way across the border. Boy. And um, you can call it Gewürz if you want. Okay. And it means spicy wine. So spicy wine? One of the things that you will definitely notice with Gewerstraminer is it's very aromatic, um, sometimes overly perfumed. Like, you know, your great aunt that wears too much perfume, you're like, oh my god, could you stop hugging me? It'll get that if it's bad. But it should be crisp, it should be aromatic, it can be sweet, it can be dry, kind of similar to Riesling. You can make it a lot of different ways. Uh so this is like jasmine spice leaping out of the glass.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

I don't know what to say, but uh this is not as painful as the Gewirtshaminer that I had with Tyler's grandpa. This is good. I would not drink a full glass of it. It is too much for me. But it is does not taste like a bad wine like the previous one.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

It's uh it is a good, good, well-made wine. It has like that like jasmine, kind of like some rose petal, very, very aromatic.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

Um it has to me the tiniest hint, and this is like the the perfuming, the like um if you are a person that has been pregnant and gone through the diabetic test where you have to like drink this like syrup liquid, it reminds me kind of of that, but just in a tad bit, and that a little bit was in my head of like what I remember from Girtshaminer from like a million years ago when I first had it. It's not bad.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

This this I would say, yeah, I don't, without knowing too much, feels like a well-made Gvershaminer, but like Girtshaminer blended into like a little bit of Pinot Blanc or something like that to just give it a little bit more body, a little bit more sweetness, and a little bit more aromatics.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

A little more sweetness?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Yeah, because this is off dry. Yeah, but here, let's make let's do an ex let's do an experiment real fast. So let's so this is what they do in all sauce. So let's give you a little Pinot Blanc.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah, we don't have enough wine. Also, um I referenced this just a bit ago. We previously last year did is all German wine sweet? So we've already answered that question, but you can check that out.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

We're gonna do the the movie theater blending thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

What's a movie theater blending thing?

SPEAKER_00 17:15

You know, when you go in the fountain machine and get all the things. So we're just gonna add a little bit of meer to your Pinot Blanc. Okay. See what you think. I'm mixing it up.

unknown 17:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Gives it a little bit more body, a little bit more aromatics, and a little sweetness to go with all the acidity. But so This is a very crunching to do.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

You know, we're we're how many wines in. Four? I don't know if it's the fact that we're four in or or if it's the latest one. I have that like um mouthfeel of like too much sweet wine, which this isn't, I don't know how to explain it. It's like uh so gross, like phlegmy almost. It is. That's what the sweetness does. Have a little water. What? You got some water? But that's what I'm this is my general complaint about sweet wine.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

With sweet wine, you need a ton of acidity to back up the sweetness usually.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Like, how do you possibly drink two glasses of that?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

You don't. That's why you need the really good sweet wines have a lot of acidity to balance all off. Good. This was a nice mixture. Great job. Thanks. If you like that, off topic. Hugel gentile, or as they say in America, Huguel Gentile. Um it's a blend of most of these grapes together.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

It's French. I could I could get on board with that. Okay, Bridget.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Sorry, I'm just dinging out. Oh no. This was hidden at the bottom for a reason. This, everybody, is the blue bottle of Riesling everyone knows and loves or hates.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

So I have very good sweet Riesling in my house, but I thought for the purposes of this, we should pull out a bottle of relax in a lovely, clear blue bottle. Very sweet. I would German Riesling.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

I would put this like um this is like the first wine someone drinks when they're 21 or whatever, and you want to say you drink wine. Really, I was like, oh, when you're like 16 and say you drink wine, it's this because it's oh man.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Also, fun fact, Kathy Vorpegel appreciates this bottle of wine. Oof.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

It's not my cup of that's my mom. That's exactly how I expected. I knew it would taste.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

This is sweet.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Ugh.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

And that's about it. I'm not gonna drink any more of that. To me, it tastes like pineapple juice.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

But listen, it has its right.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

You know, like uh, you know, the pineapple orange, mandarin orange fruit cup. Oh my god, my kids love them. That has like the syrup in the bottom. Yeah, the disgusting syrup. That's what it tastes like. But a little bit more acidity to it.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Okay, yeah, a little more acidity. But man, actually, I used to love that juice when I was like 12.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Okay, so just go back. Oof. Also, it was like when you were six. I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

I feel like I liked those for a long time. My kids love them and they're two and five.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

So all right, so let's let's dump this. I know you don't want to.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

This brings me back to gut rat. Thanks for that.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Let's give ourselves a rance with some of the bubbles and let's touch base on these white wines. Everybody thinks a German wine is white wine, and that's for good reason. It's the majority of Germany's wine production.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

I will say that you did a nice job in the tasting because they're actually in order of how I like them so far. Great job. Killing it. I mean, so least painful to most.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

For the listeners, what what are some takeaways that you have? What are some thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 20:50

So my assumption was correct about some things and not others, are my main thoughts. Um, not all German wine is sweet. I'm surprised by a couple of them. Um, specifically the sparkling. I don't know if I've ever had a sparkling Riesling. I'm kind of sad that it's not, I don't mean to say it's not well known, but would this bottle be comp like comparable to any other sparkling wine that we would purchase?

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yeah, it'd be pretty close to like a Cremante Lemieux or some of the sparkling wines from the south of France. That's about $20 to $25.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Okay, so maybe that's why. Um, because people might not risk a sparkling Riesling for a $25 bottle. But at tasting it, I would drink it again.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

And a challenge with that is that um people that oftentimes people that see Riesling want it because it's sweet and don't want to pay $25 and then are disappointed that it's not sweet. Yep. People that like dry wine see Riesling and don't necessarily think that it can be a dry wine.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

So that one of my great things is let's make people realize this is me, and I've done a number of these with you so far, knowing that not finding out that not all German wine is sweet, and I still, after tasting and knowing that they're not all sweet, I still hold that preconceived notion. So So that's a tough thing to change. But I like this sparkly one. This has lots of bubbles. Um, I would purchase it. Um, the next takeaway I have is that none of these have been very full-bodied, which I feel like is going to be a thing of it.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

It's a cold climate, like for sure. It's a cold climate, and you're never gonna get a lot of body out of that.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Yeah, which is so generally not my style. I would not probably purchase any of these besides the sparkling one. Um, definitely don't ever need to see the bottle of relax in my life ever again. I could purchase the Giverstraminer for Tyler. I might, you're right, you're right. I might purchase the Gurstraminer and I didn't mind it. Um, the same then, really surprised by the Pinot Blanc. I liked it. Um, I might buy that for um a group of people that I'm not really sure about their wine preference, because like I feel like that's not no one would hate that wine, you know.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

I agree, nobody would hate that.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

So, like, hey, I don't really know. Yeah, so this is an easy porch kind of wine. So I might I might think about that, which was a good takeaway. Um, I don't feel like I need the I'm gonna actually switch. I'm gonna put the Gewirts Demeanor above the Mueller Trigot.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

So I grabbed the excellent wine folly master guide book, which we love, we refer to a lot. Uh Madeline Puckett with Justin Hammock wrote this book and pulled up the Germany page. So Riesling, so I think about 70% of what Germany, maybe 65% of what Germany grows is white wine. Riesling's the number one. Muller Togao is actually second, which shocked me. And it's a pretty, you can see it's a pretty decent amount there. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Where are we looking? Oh, oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

But the next two grapes are red grapes, Pinot Noir and Dornfelder. After that, Sylvaner, which is terrible, Pinot Gris, Bloyer Portuguese that I've never heard of, then Pinot Blanc. So well. So anyway, and she has two good facts in here that I should share about Germany that make their wine interesting and great to drink for Oktoberfest. Um they were really kind of the first people to do single varietal stuff, like before Americans did that. The Germans with Riesling were like, we're gonna grow one grape, grow it well, not mix it together and say it was it is it is what it is. And the other thing is they really are leaders with organic production and biodynamics. Biodynamics actually come from Germany, got their start there. So with a lot of the um their certifications are different, so you won't always see it on the label. But all of these producers, with the exception of Relax, um, are certified sustainable type of people, which is really pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

So, wait, we touch on the blending again. Is that uh do a lot of German wines blend or not blend it?

SPEAKER_00 24:33

German wines are almost exclusively single varietal. They do no blending. Okay, that's what I was looking for to see if any of them with the cool climate, with how their wines really are focused on being aromatic. If you like crisp, light, aromatic versions of whatever, these are great wines for you.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Okay. Yeah, I I really do like I think of our friend Tessa, who I know likes a sweeter wine. And I think of someone like that, and and a summer, you know, I'm I got a text from my friend about going out on a boat, and like, okay, these wines have a place in the warm sun if it's not too sweet. That's where I'm at so far.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

And those sweet wines have a place in the cold German winter.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

I know, which is so fascinating, actually, to me. Um anyway, okay. This is entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

All right. Time for the reds. Bridget's gonna hate these, I think. I probably think I will. Because they're light-bodied reds, and we know Bridget's opinion. Red wine should be big, bold and masculine. Um man. I think we're gonna do the Pinot Noir first. So Germany actually makes some really great Pinot Noir. It's very light-bodied, it's very aromatic. This one comes from Pinot Noir. Um August Kessler, which is a great producer. They're getting a lot of um really great plaudits for what they're doing. Look at the look at the typography.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

I also I feel like um, I feel like I've had this, or maybe I've just have seen it since you bought it for this. I I've not had it, meaning I bought it. Let me be clear.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Also, they have a new writing system that's called the VDP system. There's this cool eagle on it. If you see this eagle thing, but it goes quite it's it's called Gutswein. Literally, good wine. Literally, the label on this says good wine.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Is there one that's bad vine?

SPEAKER_00 26:22

I love German. Buy this one. I've never been able to learn any of the words, even though they're supposedly kind of close to English.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Supposedly.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Like y'all.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

I mean, that's pretty straightforward. Oh, yeah, that is bright and light, man.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

So this is the Daily August Pinot Noir. Maybe we should give it to Tessa, our friend that we just messaged.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Ooh, Tessa, do you like tell me about the red wines you like? I do want to know people that generally are big fans of sweet white wine. Is there a red wine? Is there like a comparable red wine for people that love sweet line? Lambrusco. Oh, yeah, lambrusco.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

I feel like people are buying bottles of lambrusco every week. I had a bottle of Lambrusco this weekend. It was delicious. Yeah, we had some ribs and we needed a sweet red with it. Oof.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Whoa. I do not like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

It is funky. Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

That is worse than I expected. Wow, Bridget, Slayton the German Pinot Noir. I don't know if that's just like in the order here or what, but that like actually made me cringe. Wow, what don't you like about it?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I don't know, and I would need to drink it again to tell you, but I am nervous. If you weren't watching, that was one heck of a reaction. I might need to redo our intro and include that reaction.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

That was not me being I didn't mean to purposely be dramatic. It just like shocked me. Okay, I'm gonna do it again.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

I think this is lovely.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Very dry on the fin.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Like it's it makes my tongue go that so what this has, and a lot of German Pinot Noir does have, it's got like a mushroom-y characteristic to it.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

I can't taste anything. My tongue just feels really chalky.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

It is delicious.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

Does your tongue not feel that way?

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Are you like a little bit, yeah. It's got very, very sour tannins. It's got like sorrow, sour red cherry.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

It feels like a sour patch kid. Yeah, it kind of does. A lot of acidity. That is not a wine I would drink again.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

If you're a Pinot Noir drinker that likes very crisp, clean, earthy Pinot Noir, so kind of like Burgundy, but without the Burgundy price tag, check out some German Pinot Noir.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

I feel like you have to acknowledge its sour capabil or uh characteristics.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Yeah, it's like a sour cherry flavor.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Okay. So if you're a Pinot Noir drinker that likes sour things, that's what I said.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

No.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

That would be the leading note to me that it is sour.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Do you know what they have a they have a fun word for this in German? Do you know what that is? No. Spat Burgander. Spat does that mean sour? Yeah. What does that mean? It's like, I don't know, red burgundy wine. It's made me hate Pinot Noir even more. I knew this was gonna go this way. So I got one more red wine. That was really bad. I don't even want to drink this next wine. I mean, this is delicious, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

I cannot believe the vast difference in opinion. I I will try it again on a day that I haven't had all of the white ones. I'm not sure it'll make it.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

So this is Dornfelder. This comes from Villa Wolf. Two from them. It was created in 1955, which I think is all you need to know. They wanted red wine in Germany. That was um oh no. Whatever. It's a cross of a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Nick clearly doesn't like this one, which means I'll like it. Let's give it a try. I'm gonna like it.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

This is a more medium-bodied one.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Is it sour? Oh, we'll see. We'll see. I just didn't expect that to be sour like that, man. That's just probably plenty. German red wine. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

So what Wikipedia says is traditionally the red wines of Germany were mostly pale and light-bodied, but new breeds of dark-skinned grapes led by Dornfelder have allowed the production of more internationally styled reds. Yeah, this looks more like what you might expect.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

Well, this doesn't um doesn't make me have a visceral reaction, but it's also not good. It's not good. Just tastes like watery sweet juice. Yep. Yep. But actually, it's nowhere near as painful as that Pinot Noir was. Like I would drink this. I would not have a repulsive reaction to it.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

I think if you're at a beer garden and you don't want to drink beer, but you like something that's kind of sweet, but it's kind of cold.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

This is okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

This is okay. I would I would like this cold. Uh, it's kind of cold. Ur. Yeah, colder. I could see that. That a little spritz. This would make good sangria.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Yeah, this yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

This is a I think it's Labor Day coming up. Maybe I'll save it for my batch of sangria.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Yeah, it's not what you might expect from a uh red wine in a bottle. It's it like really looks like a traditional bottle of red wine, like a cavernet.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

It's a Bordeaux bottle, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Yeah, and um I mean this is not. It's not, it's great for a sangria. That German sangria. Oh, I thought you were gonna spit in there and have it splash all over me. Wow, this was uh red wine, not Germany, uh, not a strong suit of Germany.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

I can't even really give you tasty notes. It's like I think Bridget said it. I don't know. It's okay. It's like it's a sweet bruise. It's like the Starbucks. What's the purple Starbucks? Not Starbucks, Starburst.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Oh, I don't know, man. I'm a classic. It's like that flavor. Yeah, it's like a fruit you're not that you don't really know what it tastes like. It's like where you're like passion fruit, but no one really knows what passion fruit tastes like. It's like that. You're like, oh, this is dragon fruit passion fruit wine. I don't know. It's it it's fine. It's it's not a red wine I would like to sit and drink and enjoy. Uh it's just fine. This was disgusting overall. Thank you. So I will say, uh, a couple shockers. I've already recapped them mostly because I'm gonna mostly ignore the fact. Thank you, you've chosen my favorite. Surprise, surprise. Um, the bubbly was, you know, what wine should I drink for Oktoberfest? Well, sparkling Riesling. Sect, Riesling sect, is that what it's called? Nailed it. You know, um, that wasn't a nice surprise. I'm gonna continue to say that. I like the amount of bubbles, I like that it's not too sweet. I would love to change the mind of people's thinking. If you said Riesling, like sparkling Riesling, I'm immediately like, oh great, sweet sparkling juice. So it's absolutely not that. That's fantastic. Stay away from German red wines. That would be my next takeaway. And then if you're looking for a white wine and you're not really sure what the people in your group drink and it's maybe warm out, I would do like the Pinot Blanc, I thought was a really nice surprise. Um, those were my quick takeaways.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

So, wine more expert opinion, and like if you like wine trying to if you I mean, drink beer for Oktoberfest. It's it's Oktoberfest. But that's what we're saying. There's people that are that are uh can't drink beer, don't like drinking beer, whatever. Um German wine is good to explore. They're doing some really cool things. Riesling is an incredible world. There's so much good stuff. Go to a good wine shop, come to me, I'll hook you up with the wide, wide world of Riesling. But look for some of these other varietals. People are gonna try and tell you Mueller Turkal's good, people are gonna try and tell you Dornfelder is good. If you want to try for yourself, that's great. Good luck. Good luck. German wine really is ultimately sent around Riesling. They do, they're the best Riesling producers in the world that make incredible Riesling. And their Pinot Noir, I know Bridget hates it. Their Pinot Noir is quite good. Uh, it's just a very different style than what you expect from California. So if you're a Pinot Noir drinker, check it out. Um, the Reds.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

But is that Pelt? I can't I'm uh this is a different episode, but I am still stuck on this. Like, I don't like Pinot Noir anywhere, so I can't, I guess you're right. I like the fact that I was repulsed by it here is not terribly surprising, but I want to find someone in between us. Someone that's like, oh yeah, I like Pinot Noir, it's good. But like you guys love it in this household. Does the person who loves it as a traditional Pinot Noir really like that one we drink?

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Pinot Noir has so many different flavor palettes that it really depends on what type of Pinot Noir drinker you are. If you like Miami, you're gonna hate this. If you like red burgundy from France, you're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Yeah, I've learned that I'm not a huge burgundy fan either. Bridget, you've worked hard today. That's what I'm talking about, Nick.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

We have a can of Revolution Oktoberfest.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Bridget, you've done what you needed to do. You know what, when we were planning this one, guys, I was to say I wasn't looking forward to it was an understatement. But she did it for you. For you. You really need to see my facial reaction on that one, if not two of these. I'm gonna stick with beer for Oktoberfest. Uh, I know nothing else to say. I'm sure there are gluten-free free beer options if you can't have a beer. Don't just do something that's not I also explore some German reasons. I am Nick is slowly expanding my horizons on that. It's just not a wine I gravitate towards, but I do know that they're not all sweet and painful now. So thanks for that, Nick.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We hope this helped you find some German wines that might be good for you, whether it's Oktoberfest or not. If it's Oktoberfest season, drink a beer. But we thought it'd be a fun theme to get you some German wines.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Yeah, now you know more, and you can listen to our one from gosh, last October. Uh, see about German wines being sweet, and then here's a little bit more about uh expanding our knowledge on what to drink for Oktoberfest.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

If you like this one, subscribe, follow along. We're on social media, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. We will release weekly pinkies up where we have a little bit of wine or whatever. Weekly dinner plus drinks, monthly pinkies up.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Goodness. I was thinking amuse being so many things. There's also a weekly Amuse Bouche where it's just a little bit of Bridget before our regular weekly dinner plus drinks. Thanks for tuning in, Bridget Proost.