11th July, 2016 by Darren Smith
Last month at the Palmengarten in Frankfurt, the German Wine Institute invited press to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Generation Riesling.
Starting in 2006 with 25 members, this group has grown in stature and number over the past decade, now counting 530-strong.
Not only has it proved to be a wellspring of winemaking talent, it is also arguably German wine’s most powerful marketing tool, instilling a sense of cohesion and dynamism in the industry while overturning the medium-sweet clichés of old.
Such groups are thriving throughout Germany – and not all of them are focused on Riesling.
In Rheinhessen, the group Message in a Bottle was founded in 2002 by about 20 members, including Klaus-Peter Keller, Phillip Wittmann, Daniel Wagner or Caroline Gillot, and helped to change the image of the entire region.
In Württemberg in the same year, five winemakers – Hans Hengerer, Jürgen Zipf, Sven Ellwanger, Rainer Wachtstetter and Jochen Beurer – founded the group Junges Schwaben and as a result have gone on to enjoy real success and no little influence.
There is also the