Rheingold

Book excerpt: In this provocative new book, Owen Bird writes frankly and with authority on the German wine industry; how it got into trouble and how it can rescue itself. He gives considerable insight into the pre-eminence of Riesling as driving the future of the industry. An in-depth analysis of German wine laws, labelling, competition from the New World and the advent of flying winemaking are all presented from a winemaking point of view. The steps taken by the German Wine Institute and the Verband Deutscher Pradikatsweinguter (VDP) to renew the image of German wine are compared and contrasted. For the first time in English, the new Great Growths Classification system launched by the VDP is explained and the individual terroirs discussed making this an ideal reference book and providing a current overview of the German wine industr