In the five competitions of Golden Grape Awards for Silvaner, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot varieties, Blaufränkisch, and Riesling we tasted over 4,000 wines from more than 1,000 wineries. Here are the winners!
As applause and cheers erupt, even more people head towards the trade fair stand. "Golden Grape Award Winners" is written above their heads, visible from afar: on this Friday afternoon, the winners of Golden Grape Awards are being honoured at the Berlin Wine Fair. They have won the most Grand Gold Medals in the competition organised by wein.plus and will each receive a glass sculpture as a trophy in Berlin.
The Golden Grape Awards comprise five grape variety competitions: Silvaner, Grüner Veltliner, Pinot varieties, Blaufränkisch, and Riesling. Over a period of nine months, the tasting team from wein.plus, led by Marcus Hofschuster, assessed a total of 4,045 wines from 1,025 producers from Germany, Austria, and South Tyrol. The tasters assessed the wines blind in a neutral tasting room in Erlangen using the 100-point system.
A total of 626 prizewinners and 1,832 award-winning wines in various categories emerged from all five competitions. The medals ranged from Bronze to Silver, Gold and Grand Gold. This highest award was granted from 92 points—a result achieved by only 345 wines in total. Kim Schreiber and Marcus Hofschuster judged the most wines in the Pinot varieties competition and awarded the most Grand Gold ratings in the Riesling competition.
Sandra Knoll, Petra May and Franz Leth (from left to right) are delighted with their top places at the Golden Grape Awards
Berlin Wine Fair / Thomas Vatheuer"It's a fantastic honour for us to win first prize in the Silvaner competition," says a beaming Petra May from Weingut Rudolf May in Retzstadt, Franconia. The family business is a member of Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) and has won a total of eleven medals, six of which were Grand Gold. "Silvaner is our most important grape variety. Our success shows us that we are on the right track," explains Petra May.
Winemaker Franz Leth travelled to Berlin from Fels am Wagram in Austria. "For us, this award means recognising Grüner Veltliner as a grape variety that is the most important and most typical for our region," he summarises, holding up his trophy. Weingut Leth is a member of the Österreichische Traditionsweingüter (ÖTW) and has won six medals, four of which were Grand Gold.
The award also means a lot to Sandra Knoll from VDP memberWeingut am Stein in Würzburg: "We know that the wein.plusteam has our region on its radar and has been tasting our Silvaner wines intensively for many years. This means that we always receive confirmation of our work. We were very happy to come to Berlin for this." The Knoll family's winery won seven medals, including two Grand Gold medals.
winners
First place went to Weingut Rudolf May, second place to Weingut Zehnthof owned by the Luckert family and third place to Weingut am Stein owned by the Knoll family. With eleven medals, Weingut May received the most awards, followed by the Stefan Bardorf, Rainer Sauer and Zehnthof Luckert wineries, which each won eight medals. Weingut am Stein won seven medals, ahead of Weingut Brügel and Weingut Egon Schäffer with six awards each.
To the results of the Silvaner competition
First place went to Weingut Rudi Pichler with five Grand Gold awards, second place to Weingut Leth with four Grand Gold awards and third place to Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg with three Grand Gold awards. Like Schloss Gobelsburg, Weingut Anton Zöhrer also won a total of nine medals, followed by Weingut Leth with six medals. The Rudi Pichler, Herbert Zillinger, Christoph Bauer and Ernst family wineries received five awards.
To the results of the Grüner Veltliner competition
Weingut Bernhard Huber took first place with nine Grand Gold medals, Weingut Rudolf Fürst second place with five Grand Gold medals and Weingut Friedrich Becker third place with four Grand Gold medals. With a total of 17 medals, Weingut Bernhard Huber also won the most medals, followed by Weingut Münzberg with 15 medals. The Seeger and Bercher wineries each won 13 medals, while the Ziereisen winery received twelve awards. The Bertram-Baltes, Freiherr von Gleichenstein and Oliver Zeter wineries each won eleven medals, while the Friedrich Becker, Kreuzberg and Deutzerhof wineries each won ten medals.
To the results of the Pinot varieties competition
First place went to Weingut Dorli Muhr with seven Grand Gold medals, second place to Weingut Weninger with four Grand Gold medals and third place to Weingut Gernot & Heike Heinrich with two Grand Gold medals. Dorli Muhr also won the most awards with nine medals, followed by Weingut Karl Haidle with seven medals. The Juliane Wieder and Rainer Wachtstetter wineries each received five awards.
To the results of the Blaufränkisch competition
First place went to Weingut Klaus Peter Keller with 16 Grand Gold awards, second place to Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich with 13 Grand Gold awards and third place to Weingut Robert Weil with ten Grand Gold awards. Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich won 23 awards, Weingut Fritz Haag 19 awards and the Nik Weis and Klaus Peter Keller wineries 17 awards each. The Kees-Kieren winery won 16 medals, the Robert Weil and Dr Bürklin-Wolf wineries each won 13 medals, the S. A. Prüm, Emrich-Schönleber and Georg Breuer wineries each won eleven medals and the Max Ferdinand Richter, Haart and Knewitz wineries each won ten medals.