German wine should be celebrated, not derided, says Matthew Boucher, from Chesterton Road drinks shop Thirsty
Revolutionary drinking is what it’s all about at Thirsty, and one part of the global wine industry that is habitually neglected by those who drink great wine is Germany. We feel it’s about time this situation changed and that everyone woke up to what’s on offer – and fortunately, there’s a refreshing new breed of winemaker who are not prepared to accept what has been handed down from generation to generation. Instead, these young winemakers are throwing out some of the old bathwater and, seemingly, leaving a few babes. 
Take Laura and Nico Espenschied from Weingut Espenhoff in Flonheim, south of Frankfurt, who make a Savagnin Gewürztraminer Orange Wine, which can only be called Landwein (in other words far too experimental).
There are several aspects to this: firstly, Savagnin is an obscure (French?) grape variety to say the least, and secondly the wine has been made “oxidatively”. This normally strips light white wine of freshness, but in this wine’s case it adds complex flavours and character.
The Orange Wine label denotes that the Gewürztraminer juice has extracted some of the colour from the grape skins: an interesting role reversal borrowed from red winemaking techniques.
And the result? A beautiful colour, multilayered aromas and lovely complex flavours.
“Right for a warm, muggy, English evening”
Not mentioning Riesling in a German context would be negligent to say the least – even more of a crime given that we celebrated 31 Days of German Riesling throughout July at Thirsty. We showcased exclusively Knewitz’s 2015 Riesling trocken, which is bone dry and absolutely right for a warm, muggy English evening’s drinking, refreshing in a way that few others can be. It’s from vineyards in and around Appenheim, again south of Frankfurt. 
As far as fermentable goes, there is a lot of talk, also, about craft beer at the moment, and we’re proud to be selling one from Natalie von Freude, who brews in Hamburg. Natalie came over to Thirsty Fest and presented her beer to great acclaim. Not many people are aware it seems that there is a craft brewing revolution taking place on the Continent too. Try a bottle each of Boulevard, Just Pils, Ale Primeur or Frisch Hopfenbier to experience something of German quality, but decidedly different. You’ll not be disappointed.
Finally, we welcome the resurgence of gin and find it exciting to have so (too?) many to choose from. We heartily recommend Ferdinand’s quince-flavoured gin, which was also available to taste at Thirsty Fest recently. This is made on the River Saar, also famous for wine, at The Zilliken estate. New wine, craft beer and gin – that sounds like a shopping list to me!
