Neustadt. Which winery is allowed to deliver around 1,500 bottles for the Herrenweinabend (men's wine evening) that takes place in the Saalbau Neustadt in normal years? The question about the winning wine could be answered as part of the traditional blind tasting - the message that reached our editorial team the next day turned out to be less pleasant that the good wine from the Müller-Catoir house will unfortunately not be given to the 1,000 men at the end of January can.
"In view of the catastrophic development of the last few days, there was ultimately no choice but to cancel the men's wine evening," regrets Prof. Dr. Frank Sobirey, the chairman of the Liedertafel. There was sizzling tension in the air on Sunday evening in the singer's home of the Liedertafel in two ways: On the one hand, there was uncertainty up until this point about whether the men's wine evening in 2022 could even take place. On the other hand, the tasting turned out to be an extraordinarily exciting head-to-head race that ended with a runoff.
But first things first: The fact that the men's wine evening is carefully prepared, in this case in the form of a blind tasting in mid-November, goes without saying for an honorable society like the “Philharmonic Choir Liedertafel Neustadt an der Weinstrasse eV”. In 2017 it was 150 years that the Liedertafel was founded and in 2021 the 125th men's wine evening should be celebrated. The anniversary event was postponed due to the pandemic. The place of the wine tasting, the home of the Liedertafel, is at the end of an adventurous path in a wooded area above Neustadter Karolinenstraße. The board of directors and the advisory board of the Liedertafel are together framed by posters for major performances.
There are also guests who know about wine as well as those involved in the men's wine evening. This includes Rüdiger Böckmann, who, thanks to his stage experience, is responsible for the musical program of the men's wine evening. The Palatinate Wine Brotherhood is traditionally represented - with Order Master Oliver Stiess, who is also President of the German Wine Commissioners, Grand Master Fritz Schumann, Chapter Master Harald Weber and Cellar Master Thomas Weihl, who heads the Viticulture Office in Neustadt. There are representatives of politics such as the former alderman Dieter Klohr.
"Even if the pandemic situation makes it uncertain whether the Herrenweinabend will take place, we owe the award to the winemakers who compete annually," emphasizes Frank Sobirey at the beginning. This time there are only 13 bottles in the competition. “Usually it's 20 to 25”, says Karl Gauggel, secretary of the Liedertafel. The circle takes a lot of time for the evaluation and at the end has to make a decision as to which of the wines will receive three, two or one point. A dry Riesling has prevailed in recent years, so not even a semi-dry wine is in the running. Despite all the routine, something historic happened in 2021.
For the first time there was a stinging between two wines. After another tasting, which also ended with just one voice difference, the Müller-Catoir winery won with a 2020 Riesling dry, VDP-Gutswein, 12% vol. In the liter bottle. The Peter Stolleis winery, which has been managed by Hans-Christoph Stolleis since this year, landed in second place with a 2020 Gutsriesling dry, 11.50% vol. In the 0.75 liter bottle. Third place is Oliver Zeter with a 2020 Riesling dry, 12.00% vol.
"We would have been in good hands with both of the winning wines," said Oliver Stiess, summing up the decision in his final appreciation. "The Riesling from Müller-Catoir is a little more acidic than that from Stolleis, whereby the acid is well integrated into the overall concept of the wine." The master of the order of the wine brotherhood has already come up with a name. In the hope that the Herrenweinabend will actually take place, he suggests the name "Coronakiller".
Michael Landgraf | Wochenblatt Neustadt | 16.11.2021
Order
posted on 16.11.2021
— updated at 11.03.2022
