Andrew Jefford Investigates: Is Germany truly the new ‘Pinot Paradise’ for wine Lovers?

Andrew Jefford Investigates: Is Germany truly the new ‘Pinot Paradise’ for wine Lovers? – Decanter

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Andrew Jefford

November 21, 2025

Droughts, heat spikes, hailstorms, wildfires: the catastrophic effects of climate change on the world’s vineyards are evident.

There is some talk of ‘solutions’ and more of mitigation, but the truth is that hundreds of billions of tonnes of fossil carbon is now squatting in our atmosphere that wasn’t there in the pre-phylloxera era. And it’s stuck. Nature’s removal of carbon from the atmosphere is considerably slower than the rate at which we’re adding it.

The atmosphere, remember, is the critical part of terroir. Soils and landforms are typically stable over brief geological periods of a few thousand years. Extreme climate change, by contrast, may render our greatest vineyards unusable in two human lifetimes. All of our wine places, consequently, are changing. Wine’s pleasure map is blurring.

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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Most (67.3%) of our planet’s land lies in the northern hemisphere – so it will both suffer most and benefit most from climate change. Southern Europe is now climate-anguished and even classic, mid-latitude fine-wine regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Piedmont and Tuscany are threatened. </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In contrast to much of the southern hemisphere, though, where wine regions are already clustering around the southernmost land extremities (Patagonia excepted), the northern hemisphere has higher-latitude sites aplenty. England’s transition from Quixotic outsider to bright, new, cool-climate star, a transition that the magnificent 2025 vintage will hasten further, is a stark example. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Everywhere, though, is changing. In most cases this is gradual – so gradual we might not notice. Here’s an example of that ‘quiet change’. Twenty years ago, Germany was struggling to make balanced Rieslings in trocken (dry) style. Job now done. Today’s Germany is becoming a ‘Pinot paradise’ – or so the Germans are claiming. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The figures are impressive. According to German Wine Institute figures, Pinot varieties accounted for 17% of Germany’s vineyards at the turn of the millennium; by 2024, it had reached 31%. Plantings of white Pinot family varieties (Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay and Auxerrois) increased by an astonishing 199% over the same period. <strong><a href="https://www.decanter.com/wine/grape-varieties/pinot-noir/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pinot Noir</a></strong> is increasing, too – by 24% between 2000 and 2024; it’s now Germany’s most widely planted Pinot variety (11,437ha in 2024). Most Pinot plantings are in the southernmost regions of Baden and southern Pfalz, but no region is without a Pinot presence. </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">During a brief stay in Frankfurt in early August, I visited one of the new Pinot specialists – Braunewell in the Selztal in northern Rheinhessen, based in the village of Essenheim. Pinot varieties are well established on the rolling hills and limey marl soils of the village’s main vineyard sites (Teufelspfad, Blume and Klopp). Stefan Braunewell’s grandfather, he says, ‘was a big fan of Pinot Gris and planted it in 1971 and 1974 – they’re the oldest vineyards we have’. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Nowadays, though, Stefan feels that the star is Chardonnay, ‘though no one is waiting for German Chardonnay – or rather they don’t know they are waiting for it’. That’s the challenge for the quiet changes wrought by warming: the market needs time to catch up. </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">As well as tasting the Braunewell family’s wines (a 2020 Chardonnay from the am Römerberg plateau site was vinous, intense, long, dramatic and pure; while the 2023 Pinot Gris from Teufelspfad was delicate, rounded and tender), I also had the chance to try eye-opening Chardonnays from Friedrich Becker and Jülg in the Pfalz, and opulent Pinot Gris (Grauburgunder) from Salwey’s Grosses Gewächs site of Oberrotweiler Eichberg in Baden’s Kaisterstuhl. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Most impressive of all, since this is a Pinot family member rarely taken seriously elsewhere, was the structured and sinewy Juliusspital Grosses Gewächs Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder) from Volkacher Karthäuser in Franken and the leaner, tauter, more fragrant Berghaupten Schützenberg version from Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein in Baden. </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Germany, clearly, is no longer quite what you or I thought it was. Don’t miss out.</span></p>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">In my glass this month</h2>
<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="lazyload blur-up aligncenter size-large wp-image-570608" data-processed src="https://www.decanter.com/wp-content/themes/simba-theme/assets/images/placeholder.png" data-src="https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-630x111.jpg" alt="Huber Malterdinger Alte Reben Spätburgunder 2017" width="630" height="111" data-sizes="auto" data-srcset="https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-630x111.jpg 630w, https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-300x53.jpg 300w, https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-135x24.jpg 135w, https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-320x57.jpg 320w, https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-620x110.jpg 620w, https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-920x163.jpg 920w, https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017-1220x216.jpg 1220w, https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2025/11/jefford-huber-Malterdinger-Alte-Reben-Spatburgunder-2017.jpg 1300w" sizes="(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" /></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;">The stars of the Pinotfication of Germany are the country’s top red-wine producers – such as Baden’s Julian Huber of Bernhard Huber. His Malterdinger Alte Reben Spätburgunder 2017 (<em>US$129</em> <strong><a href="https://www.winewatch.com/wine-shop-d2/pinot-noir-c13/2017-weingut-bernhard-huber-malterdinger-bienenberg-spatburgunder-pinot-noir-baden-germany-p16317/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><em>Wine Watch</em></a></strong>) was a revelation: aromas of mellow Pinot Noir classicism at mid-maturity; the layered, finely crafted flavours are perfectly pitched between unforced fruit sweetness and a harmonious, fruit-saturated acidity. The oaking is also more skilful than it was during Germany’s debut Pinot Noir years.</p>
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