The best Rieslings of the year have been announced
Winners come from the Palatinate, Franconia, Württemberg, Mittelrhein, Mosel and Nahe / Rieslings from Austria, Australia and the Czech Republic impress
The best Rieslings of the year were honoured today at the digital awards ceremony. A total of over 2,400 Rieslings from all over the world once again faced a jury of experts.
In the exciting final tastings of the eight competition categories, there were again some surprises this year in addition to well-known wineries. Third place in category 1 was won for the first time by a winery from the Czech Republic with a “Ryzlink rýnský” from the 2015 vintage.
The results of the category winners show that top quality wines were produced in all German wine-growing regions, especially in the 2019 and 2020 vintages.
Among the first-place winners are well-known names such as the wineries Philipp Kuhn and Neiss (both Palatinate), winery Dautel (Württemberg) and the wineries Schloss Sommerhausen and Horst Sauer (both Franconia). But also many up-and-coming wineries such as Weingut Harald und Jürgen Krebs (Palatinate), winery Emmerich-Koebernik (Nahe), winery Albert Lambrich (Middle Rhine) or winery Würtzberg (Mosel) are among the winners.
This year, the Moselland eG Winzergenossenschaft (Best Dry Riesling in Food Retail), Weingut Loimer from Kamptal, Austria (Best Dry Riesling Europe) and Weingut Grosset from Australia (Best Dry Riesling from the New World) were awarded one of the coveted special prizes.
Most of the Rieslings that received an award came from the Palatinate (488 Rieslings), followed by the Mosel (338) as well as Rheinhessen (254).
The international top ranking of the best Rieslings this year is led by Alsace with a clear margin, with 102 award-winning Rieslings. It is followed by Austria (59), Luxembourg (12), as well as Australia (8) and the Czech Republic (7).
“We already saw the huge potential of the 2019 vintage last year. The Rieslings from 2019 tasted now show that these wines are now showing their greatness through bottle maturity. The 2020 vintage is very exciting from our point of view. Some wines are already captivating at a very young stage, but a lot can be expected here as well,” Christian Wolf, tasting director of Best of Riesling, summarises his impressions.
“We were particularly pleased this year that very many older Riesling vintages were submitted to the competition. The 2015 from the Czech Republic was a real surprise.”
The awards ceremony was held digitally again this year. As patron of the competition, Daniela Schmitt, who has only been in office for a few weeks as Minister for Economy, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, addressed her heartfelt congratulations to all the successful wineries.
On a total of nine tasting days, the Rieslings entered for the competition were intensively tasted, evaluated and the best were awarded one of the coveted prizes. The wines were tasted blind by an expert jury of oenologists, specialist retailers, sommeliers and journalists who were very familiar with the diversity of Riesling.
The winners of the eight categories as well as the top 150 will be presented by Meiningers Weinwelt in its July issue. All the award-winning Rieslings can be found now at www.best-of-riesling.de. A recording of the award ceremony is also available there.
All award-winning Rieslings as well as further information on Best of Riesling can be found at: https://www.meininger.de/en/wein/verkostungen/ergebnisse/best-riesling-2021
Best of Riesling 2021 winners
Category I – Dry Riesling (with moderate alcohol content)
1st place 2020 Riesling Gutswein trocken
Weingut Harald und Jürgen Krebs GbR, Freinsheim (Pfalz)
2nd place 2020 Riesling – Tradition – trocken VDP.Gutswein
Weingut Philipp Kuhn, Laumersheim (Pfalz)
3rd place 2015 Ryzlink rýnský
B\V Vinarstvi Ratiskovice, Czech Republic
Category II – Dry single-vineyard Riesling (with moderate alcohol content)
1st place 2020 Sommerhäuser Steinbach Riesling trocken VDP.Erste Lage
Weingut Schloss Sommerhausen, Sommerhausen (Franken)
2nd place 2020 Minheimer Rosenberg Riesling trocken
Weingut Christoph Koenen, Minheim (Mosel)
3rd place 2020 Gimmeldinger Kapellenberg Riesling trocken
Weingut Peter Stolleis Carl-Theodor-Hof, Neustadt-Gimmeldingen (Pfalz)
Category III – Dry Riesling
1st place 2019 Laumersheim Riesling vom Kalksteinfels trocken VDP.Ortswein
Weingut Philipp Kuhn, Laumersheim (Pfalz)
2nd place 2019 Herzstück Riesling
Schlossgut Liebieg GmbH, Kobern-Gondorf (Mosel)
3rd place 2020 Künstler Riesling trocken VDP.GUTSWEIN
Weingut Künstler, Hochheim (Rheingau)
Category IV – Dry single-vineyard Riesling
1st place 2019 Riesling Wurmberg
Weingut Dautel, Bönnigheim (Württemberg)
2nd place 2019 Stettener Stäudlen Riesling trocken VDP.Erste Lage
Weingut Karl Haidle KG, Kernen (Württemberg)
3rd place 2019 Escherndorf am Lumpen 1655 Riesling trocken GG VDP.GROSSE LAGE
Weingut Rainer Sauer, Escherndorf (Franken)
Category V – Medium-dry/off-dry Riesling
1st place 2020 Oberweseler Riesling Hochgewächs feinherb
Weingut Albert Lambrich, Oberwesel-Dellhofen (Mittelrhein)
2nd place 2019 Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Kabinett Rotlack
JWG Johannisberger Weinvertrieb KG, Geisenheim (Rheingau)
3rd place 2019 Fels-Terrassen Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Feinherb
Weingut Loersch, Leiwen-Zummethöhe (Mosel)
Category VI – Sweet Riesling
1st place 2019 Serriger Herrenberg Riesling Spätlese
Weingut Würtzberg, Serrig (Mosel)
2nd place 2020 Wickerer Stein Riesling Kabinett
Weingut Peter Flick, Hochheim am Main (Rheingau)
3rd place 2020 Maikammer Heiligenberg Riesling Spätlese
Weingut August Ziegler KG, Maikammer (Pfalz)
Category VII – Noble-sweet Riesling
1st place 2019 Burgweg Riesling Beerenauslese
Weingut Neiss GbR, Kindenheim (Pfalz)
2nd place 2019 Winkeler Hasensprung Riesling Auslese
Weinhof Goldatzel, Johannisberg (Rheingau)
2nd place 2015 Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese VDP.Grossse Lage
Weingut Künstler, Hochheim (Rheingau)
Category VIII – Matured Riesling (vintage 2013 and older)
1st place dry 2012 Escherndorf am Lumpen 1655 Riesling GG trocken VDP.Grosse Lage
Weingut Horst Sauer, Escherndorf (Franken)
1st place sweet 2012 Riesling Eiswein Waldböckelheimer Kronenfels
Weingut Emmerich-Koebernik, Waldböckelheim (Nahe)
3rd place 2012 Riesling Eiswein
Weinmanufaktur Untertürkheim, Stuttgart (Württemberg)
Special awards
Best Dry Riesling in Food Retail
2020 Saar Riesling trocken
Moselland eG Winzergenossenschaft, Germany
Best Dry Riesling Europe
2018 Ried Heiligenstein 1ÖTW Zöbing Kamptal DAC
Weingut Loimer GmbH, Austria
Best Dry Riesling from the New World
2018 Grosset Alea Riesling ÖKO Clare Valley, Australia
Schlumberger Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG, Germany
About Meininger’s Best of Riesling
Best of Riesling was launched in 2000 by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Viticulture and is considered the largest recognised Riesling competition in the world. The competition took place in 2021 under the patronage of the Ministry of Economy, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture of Rhineland-Palatinate. More than 2,400 Rieslings from all over the world were submitted to the competition and blind tasted and evaluated by a jury of experts using the internationally recognised 100-point scheme.
The organiser of the competition is Meininger Verlag, founded in 1903 in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, one of Germany’s oldest specialist publishers and now run in the fourth generation by Andrea Meininger-Apfel and Christoph Meininger. The company specialises in particular in the wine and beverage industry and its portfolio makes it the European market leader in the wine sector. In addition to well-known trade magazines, the company organises trade fairs, industry events and trade congresses. Internationally, Meininger Verlag has made a successful name for itself with the MUNDUS VINI Grand International Wine Award.
