Every year we host a tasting to try German wines from the new vintage, with a focus on Riesling. Our host is Phil Bernstein, General Manager of MacArthur Beverages, one of the leading retailers of German Riesling in the country. Every year, Phil brings some of the best wines of the vintage and this year will be no exception.
The new vintage is 2022, the fifth in a string of very good to great vintages. German wine growers continue to benefit from global warming. However, this year’s vintage is different from the previous four. In particular, the 2022 vintage is more classic, settled down, and hopefully ready to drink, compared with 2021 where the wines need at least a few more years to be fully ready. The 2022 growing season was marked by hot and dry weather not seen in living memory and yet, according to Mosel Fine Wines, the resulting wines are absolute classics with great balance, moderate sugar levels, and often wonderful freshness. How can this be possible? Come and find out!
DATE: Friday, June 7th, 2024. Doors open at 6:30 pm; tasting begins at 7:00 pm. Registrations are due by Monday, June 3, 2024.
VENUE: King Farm Community Center, 300 Saddle Ridge Circle, Rockville, MD 20850, in the King Farm development, which we last used for our April 2023 New Vintage Tasting and also in September 2021. This is a large, free-standing building in the middle of a circle, with high ceilings, a fireplace, kitchen with refrigerator for wine chilling, and French doors and a balcony overlooking a pool area (the balcony will not, however, be open during the event). It can accommodate up to 100 people, but we are limiting capacity to 70 to fit everyone comfortably. Please park in the lot behind the swimming pool adjacent to the community center, and then come around to the front of the circle (not through the pool area) to enter the building. You can reach King Farm easily when driving either off Exit 8 from I-270 (turn into King Farm using the Redland Boulevard turnoff on the right from the exit), or from MD 355 exiting onto Redland Boulevard into King Farm. The Shady Grove Metro station on the Red Line is the most convenient to King Farm, right across 355, and there are normally shuttles running from Shady Grove into King Farm until just after 7:00 pm – the Red shuttle goes to the Community Center.
THE WINES
Vintage years are all 2022 unless otherwise noted.
Starter
nv von Buhl Riesling Sekt
Flight 1 : Duo of Donnhoff GGs (Grand Cru – quality dry whites)
Donnhoff Deichen Riesling Grosses Gewächs, Nahe
Donnhoff Felsenberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs, Nahe
Flight 3 : Favorite Kabinett Flight (lowest level on the prädikat sweetness scale)
Carl Loewen Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett, Mosel
A.J. Adam Dhron Hofberg Riesling Kabinett, Mosel
Flight 5 : Auslese Rocks Grand Finale (third level on the prädikat sweetness scale)
Flight 2 : Feinherb Flight (off-dry whites)
Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp Fass 9 “Senior” Riesling Feinherb, Mosel
Hermann Ludes “Hermann” Riesling Feinherb, Mosel
Flight 4 : Top Mosel Spätlese Throwdown (second level on the prädikat sweetness scale)
Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #5, Mosel
J.J. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, Mosel
Thomas Haag Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Auslese GK (Goldkapsel), Mosel
A.J. Adam Dhron Hofberg Riesling Auslese, Mosel
A tasty buffet of cheeses, bread, crackers, cold cuts, grapes, veggies and sweets will be provided to accompany the wines.
COST : $65 for members, $73 for non-members.
If you have any questions, please email the organizer, Dave Wendler: davewendler@yahoo.com.
You can register and pay for this event in one of two ways. Whichever method you use, please be sure to register and pay the appropriate price based on whether you are a GWS member or non-member. The GWS Capital Chapter President and Secretary, Carl Willner, can answer questions about current membership status, at carl.willner1@verizon.net . You can also become a member or renew, if your membership is not current, together with your registration for this event by including an annual $35 dues payment (for an individual or a couple).
To register and pay by PayPal, go to our chapter website: germanwinesocietydc.org. You will need to create a GWS account for the website if you do not already have one, and you will also need to have a PayPal account, as we cannot accept payment by other forms of credit or online transfer. If you are coming as a couple or other group, you can either register and pay for each individual separately, or do it as part of a single transaction and complete the payment on PayPal together. If you do a single transaction, please also email the Secretary of the GWS Capital Chapter at the address above to provide the names of each individual coming, as the individual names will not all appear on the website form for multiple persons registering together.
To register and pay by check, detach and complete the form below, indicating all names of persons who will be coming, and mail it, with your check made out to the ‘German Wine Society’, to the Chapter President and Secretary, Carl Willner: 1014 Reserve Champion Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.
HEALTH AND SAFETY : We are no longer requiring any proof of vaccination or masking as measures against covid-19. We do request, however, that if you contract or test positive for covid-19 or other contagious disease prior to the event, that you refrain from coming in order to protect our other guests. Refunds can be provided in these circumstances up to the day before the event if we are notified by then.
All GWS members and guests are reminded that alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication. Members and guests should use public transportation to events, rely on a designated driver, or taste the wines rather than finish them.
If you no longer wish to receive our announcements, please reply to this email to the sender.
If registering by mail, please fill out and cut the reservation form below with your check – do not mail the entire notice.
GERMAN WINE SOCIETY NEW VINTAGE TASTING – June 7, 2024