Scheurebe Reserve 2025

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Working at a wine shop you often fall into schemes of answers that you do not make too much effort to answer and you end up selling mainstream wines that reveal few character or terroir and that, personally, you would never get close to.

A major part of the German public asks for Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) with low acidity levels, not too pronounced primary aromas, dry, are you really sure it is dry, they often ask and, most of all, cheap. 

This is often rather frustrating and I just indicate anonymous wines that we have in offer and as the clients leave the shop, I often forget their faces and names. 

Sometimes I do fell the ambition of trying to recommend better wines as I believe everyone should be drinking better wines, but my attempts are often met with mistrust. 

This is a theme that I am often confronted with when talking to fellows from other shops. 

Germany offers a wide range of exciting wines and winemakers and I feel it tremendously frustrating to fight against this kind of establishment. 

A good example of it is this Scheurebe from Senfter. 

Even though I am not a big fan of Scheurebe due to its highly aromatic profile which often resembles a vulgar Sauvignon Blanc, this one has an impressive fresh acidity allied to light creamy notes. The spontaneous fermentation and the residual sugar of 0,1 are responsible for a more elegant and complex wine where the best side of the grape presents itself.

How this wine has managed to surprise me reveals one of my favourite facettes of german wines and how they can always translate an extreme connection to the terroir .  

 

PS- one of the most interesting customers that has passed in the shop in these last times has said that she needed wine for the guests coming for her birthday. On her hand she had a list with names and to each name she made very specific requests: he only drinks champagne, to her it can be the cheapest fruitiest rosé you have, to this one a Burgundy Premier Cru, oh this one is boring and only drinks Grauburgunder... I have to say it was one the funniest and interesting experiences I had with a customer in quite a long time. And these made keep on feeding my will to keep on.

 

16/20

Country: Germany
Region: Rheinhessen
Grapes: Scheurebe
Winemaker: Julius Senfter
13,5%
Link: https://weingut-senfter.de/weingut/

 

Location: Hamburg, Germany

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