Sparkling Wines and Wines at the Bahn: Solid, Expertly Crafted Wines

We’re tasting from small bottles

We kick off our tasting with the Riesling sparkling wine brut from Schloss Affaltrach in Württemberg. Matthias wonders if it can be sabered—but there’s a screw cap in the way! The sensory evaluation, however, is positive: cleanly made, creamy, uncomplicated, and perfectly suited for its intended use. We find that the sparkling wine really comes into its own when well-chilled and represents a solid value for the in-flight bistro price of around nine euros. Perhaps this is no surprise, as Württemberg can look back on a long tradition of sparkling wine production—a facet of the region that is often underestimated outside the Southwest.

Next up is the dry Riesling from the Peter Stolleis Winery in the Palatinate. It’s quite deliberately made to appeal to the masses—but of course, an in-flight wine must meet different requirements than a top-tier wine for the discerning wine enthusiast. If a wine is to appeal to several hundred thousand travelers, it simply has to be reliable. From that perspective, the selection is spot-on: full of character, but without being off-putting. A wine like a full-bodied Riesling from van Volxem would likely be less successful in the onboard bistro.

With its onboard catering offerings, Deutsche Bahn potentially reaches around 134 million passengers a year; about one million bottles of wine and sparkling wine are sold. For the participating wineries, this isn’t exactly a gold mine, but it does mean enormous visibility. Their own name literally travels all across Germany. Matthias did a rough calculation based on the on-board bistro price (we rounded it to nine euros) and laconically noted that, after deducting VAT, logistics costs, and the prices for small bottles, labels, and packaging, there’s less profit left over than many might assume, but the exposure for the wineries is, of course, extremely attractive.

The Pinot Gris from Keth in Rheinhessen clearly demonstrates just how varied tastes are. While we would tend to reach for a Riesling, the Pinot Gris is the top seller in the Bordbistro, with around 400,000 bottles sold. This doesn’t surprise us, as Pinot Gris has been one of Germany’s most popular grape varieties for years and is therefore the more obvious choice in the onboard bistro as well. We found the wine light, approachable, and unpretentious—exactly the way travelers like it.

The first part concludes with the Portuguese-inspired red wine “That’s NEISS – Tinto Réserve.” Although we can only speculate about the blend (we couldn’t find any information on it), it won us over with its cool, unassuming style.

Matthias Gräfe and Andreas Kretschko (Photos and montage: Ulrich van Stipriaan)

Routine Recalculated

In the second part of the podcast, Matthias Gräfe and I present two project wines by Andreas Kretschko and Matthias. After our foray into “train wines,” the focus is no longer on mass-market appeal, but on wines with a distinct signature and a deliberately edgy profile.

We start with the rosé “Routine Recalculated,” of which only 300 bottles were produced. The wine is noticeably darker than many classic rosés and is more reminiscent of a very light red wine. The rosé is made from the fungus-resistant Regent grape variety and is aged in an unusual way: first in stainless steel tanks, then in barriques that have been used multiple times. The result is a dry, mineral-driven wine with very low acidity and virtually no residual sugar. This isn’t necessarily a crowd-pleasing summer wine, but rather a full-flavored dining companion that pairs just as well with goose breast as it does with other more sophisticated dishes. But thanks to its easy-drinking nature, we had no trouble enjoying it right away!

The series name “Routine Recalculated” symbolizes the working philosophy of the two wine enthusiasts, Kretschko and Gräfe: They question the familiar and break with convention without losing sight of the craft. “Wine must surprise!” says Gräfe—perhaps even provoke.

This approach is even more evident in the Riesling from the same edition. We’re tasting a sample bottle bottled in the spring while still cloudy from the cellar. In the barrel, the wine is currently undergoing—precisely because it wanted to!—spontaneous malolactic fermentation (MLF), for which the wine—contrary to all analytical expectations—is well-suited. Wine, after all, is not an industrial product, but a living system that cannot be fully controlled. It is precisely this inherent dynamism that makes artisanal winemaking so appealing.

Sensory-wise, the Riesling is a far cry from the classic image of the grape variety. After intensive aeration, it increasingly develops stone fruit aromas, has a creamy texture, and displays a pronounced minerality from the Goldener Wagen vineyard on granite and porphyry soils. “This,” Matthias remarked, “is a Riesling for people who don’t actually like Riesling…”

Incidentally, both of these newly released wines were bottle samples—they will likely not hit the market until September.

Info

Schloss Affaltrach Riesling Sekt brut
Schloss Affaltrach, Württemberg

Riesling Peter Stolleis dry
Peter Stolleis Winery, Palatinate

Grauburgunder Keth
Keth Winery, Rheinhessen

That’s NEISS Tinto Réserve
NEISS Winery, Palatinate

Routine Recalculated Rosé and Riesling
Winemaker Andreas R. Kretschko, Saxony