Weingut Brand Riesling

Wine Info

Region: Pfalz, Germany

Grapes: Riesling 100%

ABV: 10.5%                                        

Winemaker: Daniel & Jonas Brand

Viticulture: Organic

Winemaking: Low sulfur, low intervention

“Tangy, piquant, refreshing”

When I asked Nelson Daquip to choose wines for this Crunchy Red Fruit release, I knew that there was going to be a Riesling somewhere in our six-bottle lineup. Not only had Nelson taught me to love and appreciate Riesling, but we were looking at a menu of all Filipinx food, which has lots of sweet, tart, and salty elements. These are all things that Riesling excels at pairing with.

This Brand Riesling is one of two full liter bottles in this current release, along with the Niepoort ‘Drink Me’ Baga. It’s made by two young brothers in the Pfalz region of Germany who took the helm of their family winery. They’ve been working hard in the vineyards to convert everything to organic and biodynamic viticulture, and dropping sulfur levels in the winery. It’s young winemakers like Daniel and Jonas Brand who are moving the German wine industry forward with creativity and verve.

They’ve quickly made a name for themselves for wines that are reflective of their terroir. They source most of their fruit from vineyards around the village of Bockenheim, in the northern Pfalz. They make all sorts of grapes from red to white, but it’s wines like this Riesling that show the true potential of the region.

Lime is the most pronounced note in this wine. Citrusy, refreshing, zippy. Riesling is a basket of fruit, and this wine brings more peach, pear, and lemongrass flavors to the forefront. Sweet herbal notes of basil and tarragon add a pleasant green shading to the fruit. This wine has a very slight sweetness to it, but it’s the kind of sweetness you barely notice. Tangy, piquant, refreshing, and ready to pair with anything spicy or sweet you want to eat with it.