About two years ago, I was rushing through one of the aisles at the VinExpo when I ran into Mr. Ulrich Langguth, the President of Mo-Rhe-Na, an export Association of wine producers in Mosel, Rheingau and Nahe regions of Germany.He asked me to taste their Pinot Noir (called Spaetburgunder). I told him Germany was known for its excellent Rieslings but Pinot??! Well, I tasted a few options and must say I liked the fruit and elegance of these wines.

When Mr. Langguth decided to come to Mumbai for a wine show, he agreed to come with his wife to Delhi too for a wine tasting session and specially to talk to us about German wines, a first for us.

He talked about Riesling being an example that alcohol content did not necessarily dictate the quality of wine as many of this German varietal are low in alcohol, about 9%, compared to the standard 12-15%. Rheingau is well known area for this grape. The best German Appellation is QmP which defines Trocken at 8gm of residual sugar per litre. Many people find it a tad too dry for dinner so the producers in this region have got the sugar level slightly higher and at 11% it is just called a Charta wine, a dinner wine. I really loved the typical Riesling flavour and its floral bouquet. This light bodied dry style wine was a perfect match for the chowder as well as the excellently prepared chicken salad.

Auslese (late harvest) was an anti-climax as it was too sweet for the accompanying food. Perhaps, it might be a better match with the spicy Indian food because of its balanced acidity. But I do feel that our taste buds in move away from the sweet wines faster than you can say cheers. And the late harvest wines with sugar levels of over 20gms make it palatable more as a dessert wine, talking of which, the Ice wine was just delicious with notes of honey, leechi and even mangos with a perfect acid and sugar balance. At the gun point I might even agree with our guest that German Ice wine is the best in the world. I guess it would be a safe bet to admit that during good years when the temperature is consistently below the statutory -8 deg C required for harvest, German Eiswein is superb. It is just that Canada is lucky with its God-awful cold weather which always seems to be below -10 deg C during the December/January months when the grapes are harvested at night.

Pinot Noir known as Spaetburgunder in Germany is the shining star helping its producers put their red wines on the map of wine world that loves its Rieslings and Ice wine even though it is predominantly a beer producing nation. Its the estates like Hans Lang, rated as one of the top estates in Rheingau by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson that are making serious efforts to be recognized as red wine producers. But I am sure Burgundy is not losing sleep over the new addition to Pinot Noir producing nations, at least not yet.

Casa Blanca is quite a chick restaurant where the ambience is quite inducive to a romantic evening with good quality of food that goes well with wine, but for its oversize chairs that tend to amplify the distance between persons and the food.