In mid-August, I was able to get away for a few days to Boppard in Germany, to meet some old friends. Boppard is at the centre of the Mittel-Rhein wine region so I took the opportunity to buy some wine while I was there. There is a shop called Vineum Boppard which sells and ships wine to all across the EU, and ships 18 bottles for 15Euro, so about 80p/bottle.
The shop also acts as a kind of a wine bar; you can sit outside on the square and taste 3 wines for 5 Euros, from a very large range. This also means that they have plenty of wine open to taste when you are buying too.
Their website is www.vineum.com
One of the big problems with German wine is that it is very difficult to get the good stuff in the UK; the bad old days of Blue Nun, Liebfraumilch and Black Tower all but destroyed the UK German wine sales. In Germany, in Boppard, however, there was a massive range of great local wines all at less than 10Euro a bottle, which you just cannot get in the UK.
So, I bought 18 bottles for shipping, about 8 different wines, all tried in the shop. Mostly white, a rose, and a red.
So, once it turned up – about 10 days later, I took the opportunity to have some fellow wine society members round to check out 4 of them.
Wine 1
Weingut August Perl. Bopparder Hamm, Feuerlay, Hochgewachs. Riesling 2019. Trocken. 12.5%
**8.01 Euro
A classic light, Rhine Riesling. An easy drinking Riesling, dominated by citrus fruits, 8/10
Wine 2
Weingut Heilig Grab. Bopparder Hamm, , Hochgewachs. Riesling 2018. Trocken 11.5%
**7.65 Euro
Some spritz in this one, a little more age than Wine 1, which actually takes the fine edge off it. Otherwise very similar.7/10
Wine 3
Weingut Lorenz. Bopparder Hamm, Riesling Spatlese 2017. Feinherb 11.0%
**8.91 Euro
This one is a little older, nearly 3 years in the bottle. Feiherb is much the same as Halb-Trocken, but without the precise legal definition for acidity and residual sugar. Has a maturity to it. It felt a bit flat directly after the 2 Trockens, but returning to it later, was much more rounded and just nicer. 8/10
Wine 4
Weingut Konigshof. Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay, Riesling Auslese 2016. 9.0%
**15.21
The best of the 4. This is a classic sweet Riesling, with a great balance of sweetness, fruit, acidity. Almost perfect.9/10
** All prices were after 10% discount, without shipping. We got 10% off for 18 bottles, then the shipping was 15 Euro, so it all balanced out pretty much
