© Copyright 2002 by Kirk Wille From the January/February 2002 issue of Riesling Report The Pfalz is Germany's Alsace. Like its French counterpart, the Pfalz is a long, narrow region defined by sheltering mountains to the west and the fertile Rhine valley to the east. It is very nearly the warmest and driest region of the country and, in its confined area, contains a great diversity of soil types and vine varieties. This is not surprising, since the Pfalz lies directly north of Alsace and draws its regional flavor from the same geological roots. The Rhine valley was formed around 50 million years ago when the entire area - then a huge massif - collapsed, leaving the Vosges and Haardt mountains on the west side and the mountains of the Black Forest on the east. For many millions of years, the entire valley was flooded. The accumulation of crustacean shells, algae and other organic detritus is what accounts for the preponderance of calcium-based limestone and chalk in the area. Centuries of erosion - by wind, water, heaving of volcanic activity and glacial scrapings - wove a complex tapestry of topography and soil types in the Rhine valley from Basel, in Switzerland, up to Mainz, where the Rhine bumps into the Taunus Mountains and turns west. The vineyards of Alsace and the Pfalz contain everything from igneous granite and basalt to sedimentary sandstone and limestone to alluvial gravel and wind-blown loess. The whole area is a geologist's (and wine lover's) playground. The Haardt mountains of the Pfalz run along the same geological line as the Vosges in France, but are smaller and don't contain as much primary rock, such as the granite found in some of the finest vineyards in Alsace. The soils here are quite varied and mineral-laden, but are mostly the result of air- and water-borne deposits rather than magmatic upthrust. For the most part, the best vineyards in the Pfalz are on the gentle scree slopes at the eroded eastern base of the Haardt range, where they get maximum protection from the cold, wet Atlantic weather. Excellent south-easterly exposure gives the vineyards plenty of sun. Indeed, it is so warm here that fig, almond and citrus trees are common. Getting fully ripe grapes for wine is seldom a problem.
A long and winey road The Pfalz is home to the original Deutsche Weinstrasse, or German Wine Road. It runs the 80 km length of the region and takes you through or near all of the most important (or, at least, most famous) wine villages. But the road to the Pfalz' recently restored position as one of the leading Riesling regions in the world is much longer. As is usual with wine in Europe, the story begins with our old friends, the Romans. As we know from "Gladiator," that over-the-top Hollywood spectacle, Germanica was, in Roman times, a barbaric hellhole where young generals went to rack up some glorious victories to fuel their political ambitions. In the Rhine valley, however, the Romans found a hospitable land that was warm and fertile. It didn't take them long to decide where to put the vineyards. The flatter, alluvial lands of the Rhine plain were given over to agriculture and the slopes went under vine. Many wine-related Roman artifacts have been found in the area, some of which are on view at the wine museum in Speyer. After the Roman Empire fell, there's not much to report about wine until the creation of the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne (they're not called the Dark Ages for nothing). As he did elsewhere throughout Europe, Karl der Grosse brought order and systematic farming methods where before there had been only chaos. He initiated a long, glorious course of history for the Pfalz, which derives its name from the Latin root for "palace." Known as "The Palatinate" in English, it became the base for a host of kings, prince-electors, bishops and aristocratic wine merchants. In Charlemagne's time (800 ad), the area became known as the empire's wine cellar. The region was so well known for its wines that, by the end of the Middle Ages it had nearly four times as much vineyard area as it does today. The entire valley, from Basel to Mainz, was one continuous vineyard, and Speyer was the center of wine trade. This was not the heyday of top-quality wines, however, and it was a few centuries, and several devastating wars, later before the region became the Pfalz that we know today. As in Alsace, the Thirty Year's War (1618-1648) decimated the local population. Tax records show land values plummeting to nearly nothing. Afterwards, rich nobles and ecclesiastics, with a newly settled wave of peasants to do the work, restored the vineyards and got wine production rolling again. Then came the French Revolution, and all of Germany west of the Rhine was ceded to France. As part of their reorganization of vineyard administration, the republican French abolished the time-honored German practice of tithing. Freed from the annual 10-percent tribute to the local prince or bishop, the peasant farmers for the first time had an incentive to produce wine for quality, not just quantity. Napoleon took things a long step forward when, as was his way, he confiscated the vineyards owned by the church and nobility and auctioned them off. The vineyards of the Pfalz were very fractured at this time, even among the aristocratic landholders. Napoleon's money-raising scheme made it possible for merchants to expand and consolidate their vineyards, thus paving the way for the "glory years" of such highly regarded wine families as Jordan, von Buhl, Deinhard and Wolf. The modern era of high-quality wines from the Rheinpfalz had begun.
Classifying quality The Pfalz went back to German hands in 1814 after 10 years of French occupation, becoming part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Almost immediately, King Maximilian I Joseph initiated a tax survey of the vineyards and fields of his new lands. It took until 1828 to complete, but the new map - and corresponding tax law - brought much-needed fairness and uniformity to the tax system. In their meticulous and scientific fashion, the Bavarians produced not only an incredibly accurate tax system, but also a richly detailed set of land maps that brushed away the patchwork of mismatched, piecemeal maps that had come before. From as early as the 16th century, the vineyards of the Mittelhaardt area were renowned for their quality, and the concept of recognizing the relative value of a site based on its soil and exposure was not a new one when the Bavarians came along. Tax records tell a large part of the story, but town records also show the efforts made to ensure quality and preserve the reputation of wines from a particular village. In 1469, for example, the village of Wachenheim passed an ordinance requiring the abundant, overloaded fruit and nut trees among the vineyards to be pruned or removed to protect the quality of the grapes.
Primarily an effort of the VDP, the Grosses Gewächs campaign has been spearheaded by Christian von Guradze of Bürklin-Wolf and three of his colleagues: Christmann, Georg Mosbacher and Koehler-Ruprecht. Similar to the now-official Erstes Gewächs program in the Rheingau, this classification places severe restrictions on what can and cannot be labeled as a Grosses Gewächs wine. For the Pfalz, that means only hand-harvested Riesling from recognized vineyards, low yields and very strict selection. For the most part, these wines are dry. This system is not part of the German wine law, but is being used and promoted by a handful of wineries in the region. Thus, as you might expect, implementation is not uniform. It is not yet legal for wine estates actually to put the words "Grosses Gewächs" on the label, but they are allowed to refer to them as such in promotional material. Some winemakers don't want to clutter up the label anyway, so they'll talk about their top single-vineyard wines as being Grosses Gewächs, but you won't ever find it on the label, even if it does become legal sometime down the road. Others have devised their own terms for identifying wines from classified vineyard sites. Fanciful names are allowed so long as they don't step on French toes by conscripting the sacrosanct "cru" terms. Most notable in this category is Bürklin-Wolf, which is now adding small stickers to its top bottlings that say "Edition G.C." or "Edition P.C." Herr von Guradze is quick to add that these terms do not stand for "Grand Cru" and "Premier Cru," but are initials for "von Guradze, Christian" and "Peter Christian." A thinly veiled conceit, perhaps, but it does provide a way for the consumer to differentiate between what the estate (and the 1828 Bavarian government) believes to be first-class and second-class vineyards. Below this level, Bürklin-Wolf bottles only village and estate wines. Another option, being practiced by a few winemakers, is simply to say nothing extra, but to label the wines in the Burgundian way: Village name only for class-three vineyards (e.g. "Forster"), both the village and vineyard name for middle-quality sites (Wachenheimer Gerümpel"), and vineyard name only for the top sites ("Kirchenstück"). Unlike Burgundy, however, most will still include the variety name, usually Riesling. Perhaps in another 50 years, wine lovers around the world will come to recognize Kirchenstück as a grand cru vineyard, right alongside Musigny and Montrachet. It's a bit of a predicament for today's Pfalz winemakers. They want to re-establish the name and reputation of these long-renowned vineyards, but they're limited in what they can communicate on the label. The goal is for us wine lovers to say "Umm, Pechstein" whenever we see it on the label, and in that "umm" the whole gestalt of the vineyard - Pfalz, dry Riesling, minerality, power - should jump into our minds, just as the words "Burgundy, deep, red and voluptuous" come to mind when we see "Richebourg" on the label. The Pfalz is on the rise, however, and I'm optimistic that the region is on another of its long upswings after the disastrous downturn in quality that took place in the middle of the last century. If anything, the Pfalz has proven itself to be quite resilient, coming back time after time no matter what history has thrown at it. And each time, quality seemed to become an even more important factor. Right now there is a growing and dedicated bunch of winemakers who are determined to show you why the Pfalz has such a long and celebrated reputation for producing wines of style, grace and sophistication.
Wines and winemakers The great wines of the Pfalz have a style that is genteel and aristocratic, but never staid or stodgy. In the mineral-rich vineyards of the Mittelhaardt, between Kallstadt and Neustadt, the wines have both power and finesse, with an excellent ability to portray the character of the site in illuminating detail. Wines from good sites in the flatter, simpler soils of the Rhine plain are bursting with lush fruit and expansive texture. Perhaps not as profound as those from stronger terroirs, these can nevertheless be stunningly beautiful, extraordinarily delicious wines. The large vineyard area south of Neustadt, known as the Südliche Weinstrasse ("Southern Wine Road"), is still drowning in an endless sea of low- to moderate-quality, mass-market wines. Yet, even here, there are interesting bits of terroir and a small, but growing, group of producers who are making wines of quality and substance. In fact, this year's "Winemaker of the Year" in the Gault Millau Weinguide Deutschland is Hansjörg Rebholz, one of the prime movers and shakers in the Southern Pfalz. For a couple of centuries, the region was dominated by a few large wine merchant families. Large estates, such as Basserman-Jordan, Reichsrat von Buhl, Bürklin-Wolf and Dr. Deinhard, pretty much ran the show. Their wines were well-known around the world and commanded very high prices. As happened in the Rheingau, these estates succumbed to the malaise of affluence, and quality took a tumble in the mid-20th century. Today, these venerable estates are once again reaching for the pinnacle of quality. They, along with a sturdy band of colleagues from smaller estates, are leading a quality renaissance in Charlemagne's wine cellar. Of the thousands of winegrowers in the Pfalz, this is the baker's dozen that we think are the best. See the January/February 2002 issue of Riesling Report for details and contact information for these top-notch producers.
Bassermann-Jordan, Deidesheim
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What we now call the "Burgundian" model of vineyard classification is enjoying renewed interest in the Pfalz these days, but even this concept has been around for quite some time. Three-tier classifications of vineyard, farm and pasture lands can be found in tax records from the 17th century. Each type of agricultural land was rated either good, average or poor, and then taxed accordingly. The Bavarian map of 1828 also used a three-level rating system, and it is on this basis that a number of current Pfalz wine estates have joined the Grosses Gewächs ("Great Growth") movement.