With the Silvaner competition, the GOLDEN GRAPE AWARDS celebrated their premiere: Marcus Hofschuster and Kim Schreiber evaluated nearly 300 Silvaner wines from around 100 producers. The winners were the winemakers from Franconia.
"Never before has there been so much good Silvaner as today – and that in all price ranges," wrote tasting director Marcus Hofschuster a few weeks ago in the article on the large Silvaner tasting focusing on the vintages 2023 and 2022. This judgment has now also been confirmed in the results of the Silvaner competition of our GOLDEN GRAPE AWARDS 2024.
Marcus Hofschuster and Kim Schreiber evaluated 294 Silvaner from 99 producers. 147 wines from 51 producers finally received medals in different categories:
17 Silvaner won the highest award, Grand Gold; 16 of them came from Franconia, one from Baden.
82 Silvaner received the Gold award: 72 from Franconia (about 88%), five from Rheinhessen, two each from Baden and South Tyrol, and one from the Palatinate.
48 Silvaner were awarded Silver: 38 from Franconia (about 79%), five from Rheinhessen, three from South Tyrol, and one each from Baden and the Austrian Wagram.
The strong representation of Franconian Silvaner in the awards was also due to the fact that the competition participation from other growing regions in Germany and abroad was only about 20 percent.
17 wineries, and thus a third of the award winners, received one award, while 13 wineries, and thus a good quarter of the award winners, received two awards.
Eight wineries received three awards, six wineries received four awards, and two wineries – Brügel and Egon Schäffer – won six awards. The Winery am Stein of Ludwig Knoll won seven awards, while three wineries – Stefan Bardorf, Rainer Sauer, and Zehnthof Luckert – could claim eight awards. The leader was the winery May with even eleven awards.
The evaluation took place in five categories:
The basic category includes regional wines, estate wines, as well as village and site wines that belong to the basic line of the respective producer. The upper class category includes elevated village and site wines, dry predicate wines of the two lowest levels (Kabinett and Spätlese), as well as wines from the middle quality line of the respective producer. The premium category includes wines from First Growth or Great Growth, dry predicate wines of the Auslese level, and prestige wines.
The distribution of the awards reflected this gradation: Grand Gold was awarded to 14 dry premium still wines and three non-dry still wines. Gold was awarded to 48 dry premium still wines, 30 dry upper class still wines, one dry basic still wine, and three sparkling wines. Silver was awarded to 28 dry upper class still wines and 20 dry basic still wines. This shows that the high-quality wines of the premium category fundamentally fulfill their quality promise.
To the results of the Silvaner competition of the GOLDEN GRAPE AWARDS 2024
To the article about the Silvaner tasting
.