Wine lovers have probably become accustomed to the fact that even top dry wines are now marketed as quality wines without a predicate. Many had never realised that a Spätlese, for example, can also taste dry. Regional wines have a harder time of it, at least in parts of the wine-drinking community. After all, the term, which officially represents the second lowest level in the wine quality pyramid, suggests that products labelled as such have not made it to quality wine.

In practice, however, this categorisation has not been true for a long time. Many committed producers are not prepared to have their wines crammed into the sometimes very dogmatic corset of the quality wine test.

Many particularly committed producers often find it difficult to get their first-class but unconventional wines through the assessment, which often honours banal, smooth, aromatically polished, and often sugary, rounded wines, while individuality, expressiveness, and strength of character are usually less appreciated.

Yet the regional wines are some of the best of their kind in the country, as our tasting once again proves.

Although almost all of them are produced organically and as far as possible no intervention is generally carried out in the cellar, the cloudy and often unfamiliar flavours of natural or orange wines, which irritate many wine lovers, are also a niche among the country wines. Nevertheless, fans of these wines will also find what they are looking for at many regional wine producers.

If you want to see for yourself the quality of regional wines from Baden in particular, you can do so at the "Badischer Landweinmarkt", which is being held for the seventh time this year in Markgräflerland. On Friday 24 April, 27 producers will be presenting their wines at the Gasthaus zum Loewen in Eimeldingen between 2.00 and 6.30 pm. The inn is located diagonally opposite Eimeldingen railway station, which can be reached by regional train from Freiburg in 50 minutes. Car parking is also available. Admission costs 20 euros. If you can, you should not miss this opportunity.

We asked all participants of the Landweinmarkt to present their current wines to us, and a good three quarters of them accepted our invitation at least in part. In total, we tasted almost 250 samples, including some more mature wines from our archive. With the exception of the latter, they can all be tasted this Friday in Eimeldingen.