By Spence Porter

If I had to choose one favorite wine region in all the world—and I’m very glad I don’t!—I wouldn’t hesitate: it would be Germany. I really love these wines!

You’ll sometimes hear people talk about German wines as difficult to match with food. Far from being difficult, they’re among the easiest wines to match! These are beautiful wines, with a delicate sweetness that goes beautifully with exactly the sorts of food most people are eating these days. They’re not the best wines for classic French or Italian cuisine. But for Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Indonesian cuisines, for Latin American, for everything, in fact, that you think of as difficult to match with wine, German wines work beautifully. And they’re the perfect wines for all of those wonderful trendy dishes that include fruit garnishes and chutneys and other delicately sweet accents. And let’s not forget things like smoked fish or ham or a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, with its sweet yams and cranberry sauce.

And Germany is turning out some incredible wines right now, with one amazing vintage following another. The level of winemaking, and the sheer number of brilliant winemakers is just mind-boggling. And the 2005 vintage is extraordinary in some regions, such as the Mosel, there are people who consider 2005 the greatest vintage in more than three decades.

And finally, too bad for the winemakers, but terrific for us, German wines are unfashionable right now because of their sweetness, which means the prices are amazingly low for wines of this quality.

Now, German wines are classified by such terms as Kabinett, Spätlese, and Auslese, terms based on the level or ripeness of the grapes, and it’s easy to get confused about what these really mean. Too many people believe that an Auslese is better than a Spätlese, which is “better”

than a Kabinett. This is a serious misunderstanding. These are differences of style, not of quality! A Kabinett (this is a reasonably priced “lower” category) from a great winemaker will always be a better wine than a Trockenbeerenauslese (an extravagantly expensive “higher” category) from a mediocre winemaker. To make things more confusing, the best German winemakers regularly exceed the government-mandated minimum requirements for each designation, and it is very common, for example, for a Kabinett from a top winemaker to more than meet the legal requirements for a Spätlese or, in a year like 2005, even an Auslese!

So, except as a general guide to the winemaker’s intentions, the official classifications really don’t tell you anything except where stylistically a given wine fits in that one specific winemaker’s range of wines. Within a given winemaker’s range, the Kabinett will tend to be lighter and more delicate, and the Auslese will be bigger and richer, than the Spätlese. But if you’re new to German wine, don’t bother about these terms. Yes, there’s a lot of information on a German wine label. And as you get to really know German wine, you’ll find the confusing information on the labels incredibly helpful and valuable. But for those of you who are beginners, there’s really just one thing you should focus on.

The single most important information on a German wine label is the name of the producer. The great producers make fabulous wines. It’s that simple. And if you’re a newcomer to German wines, the best starting point would be, not to learn the vineyards or the vintages or the terminology, but simply to start learning who the best producers are. All of the producers I’m writing about here are fabulous, so you can use these producers as a starting point but Germany is exploding with winemakng talent and there are many more great ones. Explore!

And don’t get hung up on the issue of “sweetness”. People who don’t know much about wine have a way of thinking that it’s so very sophisticated to like “dry” wines. Far from being sophisticated, this is idiotic. In a well-balanced wine, sweetness is fun. Sweetness is good. Yes, sweetness is even sophisticated! A great wine is a great wine and a bad wine is a bad wine, regardless of whether it’s dry or sweet. The German wines I’m talking about here are only slightly sweet (less sweet, in fact, than many of the popular Chardonnays that pass as “dry”) and they really do go beautifully with food.

[SIDEBAR: Can a liquid be dry? When talking about alcoholic beverages, “dryness” refers to the absence of sweetness. A dry wine is an acquired, albeit easily acquired, taste—most people are puzzled by dry wines the first time they taste them—which is where the association of dryness with sophistication comes from.]

The “dry is sophisticated” craze, by the way, has even reached Germany, and many German winemakers are starting to produce dry wines to meet that demand. There are some good ones being made, but they’re not the wines that make German wine special. If you’re new to German wine, avoid the dry ones.

Like all really good white wines, these wines should be served distinctly cool but not really cold. If the word “cold” seems appropriate when you taste it, it’s too cold. If you put a bottle in the refrigerator for about two hours, that should get you fairly close to the right temperature range.

I recently put together a tasting in New York of half a dozen of my favorite wines from the 2005 German vintage. All of them are reasonably priced, given their phenomenal quality—between around $18 and $35 per bottle (with, of course, lots of variation depending on where you buy the wine). All but one were made from Germany’s great Riesling grape. Riesling produces amazing dry wines in Austria and Alsace, but in Germany, for whatever reason, Riesling is at its best when there’s at least a little sweetness in the wine.

Making the final decision about which wines to include in my tasting was incredibly difficult. There were just too many gorgeous wines! But these are the ones I ended up with:

1.Spreitzer, Oestricher, Lenchen, Riesling, Kabinett 2005 (Rheingau)
The Rheingau used to be considered one of the greatest German wine regions. But in recent decades, wines from the region’s Great Names have been disappointing. However, there are a handful of new producers who are making up for the lapses of the old established ones.This wine sells for around $21 per bottle.

2. Joh. Jos. Christoffel Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese 2005 (Mosel)
I love the great wines of the Mosel. Low in alcohol, they have an extraordinary combination of delicacy and complexity that, at their ethereal best, I find absolutely breathtaking.This one is just beautiful, and should be available at around $29 per bottle.

3. Selbach-Oster Bernakstler Badstube Riesling Spätlese 2005 (Mosel)
Tasting Johannes Selbach’s collection of 2005 wines was one the most amazing tasting experiences I’ve ever had. These wines are so incredibly beautiful, if you have a chance to buy any of them, do!
This wine sells for around $24 per bottle.

4. J.&H.A. Strub Niersteiner Oelberg Riesling Spätlese 2005 (Rheinhessen)
The Rheinhessen may not be one of the greatest German wine regions, but some gorgeous wines are being made there, and Walter Strub makes some of the best. This is another small estate, just 37 acres, making only 7,500 cases per year.You should be able to find this for around $24 per bottle.

5. Carl Loewen Thörnicher Ritsch Riesling Auslese 2005 (Mosel)
And this wine brings us back to the Mosel. Another tiny estate, Loewen has a mere 15 acres, and an annual production of 4,200 cases of wine. Loewen is a strong believer in terroir, making wines that bring out the distinctive qualities of each specific plot of land.This wine is noticeably richer than the first four wines in the list as you’d expect from the term Auslese on the label. It’s absolutely wonderful, and should be going for around $34 per bottle.

6. Darting Dürkheimer Nonnengarten Rieslaner Auslese 2005 (Pfalz)
The Pfalz has for some years been the trendiest winemaking region in Germany. However, recently the winemakers of the Pfalz have been buying into the international fashion for dry white wines. And, unfortunately, German wines really are at their best when they have at least a touch of sweetness. Still, all is not lost. Some fabulous wines are still being made, and this is one of them!
This wine tastes somewhat sweeter than the others in this list, and would go beautifully, for example, with ham. It should be selling for around $34 per bottle.

AND SOME ADVANCE ADVICE FOR THE 2006 VINTAGE

Now, all of these wines are from the 2005 vintage, and they’re starting to vanish from the stores. But the 2006 vintage will be arriving soon! I recently had my first chance to taste some wines from the 2006 vintage, and here are some quick advance recommendations:

SELBACH-OSTER: I absolutely loved the Zeltinger Shclossberg Riesling Kabinett 2006 as well as every wine I tasted from this producer that was marked Spätlese or Auslese. As always, Selbach-Oster is a very good choice.

CHRISTOFFEL: I tasted eight wines from Christoffel, and every one of them was stunning. Don’t hesitate.

KARLSMÜLE: The Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Spätlese 2006 and the Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Auslese 2006 are both just gorgeous.

DÖNNHOFF: I tasted seven wines, and they were all amazing. Don’t hesitate.

HEXAMER: I tasted six wines from this producer, and loved all of them. Another safe bet for 2006.

I’m sure there are a lot of other wines from 2006 I’ll be recommending, but, by the time I recommend them, they’ll probably be vanishing! This list gives you a head start—these wines won’t be arriving until the fall. Grab them when they get here!