VINUM presents the 12th edition of ‘Riesling Champion’ and its winners

However, top Rieslings can be made in virtually every wine region, as the VINUM ‘Riesling Champion 2023’ competition has impressively shown.

This was a surprise – and yet somehow not. Weingut Ferdinand Abel from Oestrich-Winkel has successfully entered numerous VINUM competitions in previous years, but this year’s win still comes as a surprise to the Rheingau family company. Their ‘Oestricher Lenchen Riesling trocken Grosses Gewächs RGG 2021’ claimed the top spot in the premium class of dry single-vineyard Rieslings, whilst winemaker Reiner Abel took second place among the ‘Gutswein’ Rieslings. He therefore claimed the title despite strong competition. This means that the winner's crown once again remains in the Rheingau wine region, highlighting its prominent role in the world of German wine.

Thirty wine specialists (journalists, winemakers, merchants) spent three days sat at the tasting table along with the VINUM editorial team. 1,300 wines were tasted across seven categories, with both the preliminary rounds and the final tasted blind. At the end of the marathon, it was clear that Weingut Abel in Rheingau had achieved the best performance across three categories. It was closely followed by Bürgerspital from Würzburg, demonstrating that top-quality Rieslings are also well at home on the Main.

Nahe, Pfalz, Mosel, Rheinhessen and Rheingau are the winning areas

The winners of the seven categories were spread across nearly every German wine area, with the Riesling strongholds ultimately winning out. With Weingut Neef-Emmich (Rheinhessen, best ‘Gutswein’ Riesling), Weingut In den Zehn Morgen (Nahe, best ‘Ortswein’ Riesling), Weingut Erben von Beulwitz (Mosel, best ‘Halbtrocken’/’Feinherb’ Riesling) and Winzergenossenschaft Kallstadt (Pfalz, best Spätlese), the individual winners are still spread across five wine regions. ‘German Riesling is much more than just the country’s top grape variety, it also showcases the excellence of German winemaking. And in almost every terroir in the country’, was the summary given by competition director Harald Scholl, Editor in Chief of VINUM Germany.

Large public tasting of all winners on 8 July in Heilbronn

The VINUM Riesling Champion 2023 and all of the winners will be celebrated at an awards ceremony in Heilbronn on 8 July 2023. This will be followed in the afternoon by a large public tasting with the winners and a selection of the award-winning wines. More information and tickets for the tasting and evening event are available at www.rieslingchampion.de

Media information

All of the results have now been finalised. The top results will be presented in the VINUM edition 09/2023, and all finalist wines and a ranking will be published on the website.

VINUM – Magazine for wine culture

VINUM, a leading European special interest magazine for wine, has been published since 1980 and reaches around 308,000 readers in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France every month with three country-specific editions. For decades, VINUM has been showing how to filter the essence out of the fascinating pleasure of wine. In addition to the magazines, numerous themed and regional specials, online platforms, apps, books, social networks, awards (e.g. "Grand Prix du Vin Suisse", "Deutscher Rotweinpreis" and many more) and events make VINUM a major international media brand. Further information: www.vinum.eu/ueber-uns