Riesling Renaissance Endorsed by New Record at AuctionSingle bottle of 1999 vintage German Riesling brings $2,270 at Kloster Eberbach NEW YORK - November 30, 2000 With the auctioneer's hammer finally falling on a bid of DM 5,000 (approx. US $2,270), a .75-litre bottle of 1999 Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Goldkapsel claimed the world's highest price ever for a German wine of the latest vintage. The event was the annual wine auction sponsored by the Rheingau chapter of the Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitäts- Weingüter (VDP), held this year on September 23 at its usual venue, the lay brothers' dormitory of the 12th-century monastery, Kloster Eberbach. The catalogue listed 50 wines for auction and the bottles purchased totaled over 6,000. The star Riesling came from the Robert Weil estate, and had been estimated to sell for about DM 900 (approx. US $410). In all, six full-sized bottles and nine half bottles of this rich rarity were auctioned, each rapidly snapped up by buyers from Germany, Asia and the U.S. The 400 guests included a significant number of buyers from Switzerland and the Far East. The auction's second highest bottle price of DM 1,500 (approx. US $680) was claimed by a 1999 Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling Beerenauslese Goldkapsel, also from Weingut Robert Weil. This producer set a world record at auction in 1997 with a Rheingau Riesling, superceded in 1998 by a Saar Riesling auctioned in Trier by the Grosser Ring (VDP - Mosel - Saar - Ruwer). The hot sellers of this first millennium year included selections of Trockenbeerenauslesen and additional rare bottles from the excellent vintages of 1976, 1971 and 1959. The auction's overwhelming success, with sales exceeding DM 666,000 (approx. $303,000), underscores the renaissance of German Riesling and its position among the world's greatest white wines. |
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