VDP auctions 2011

Top Prices for First-class Wines
Wine Auctions of the Prädikat Wine Estates – A Lively Tradition

The traditional wine auctions of the Prädikat Wine Estates (VDP) in the Mosel, Rheingau and Nahe regions took place at the end of September. The best lots of vintage 2006 as well as a few rarities came under the hammer. As always, the majority of the wines auctioned were Rieslings.

Highlights 2011

1999 Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
Weingut Egon Müller - Scharzhof
versteigert für: 6.433,14 € (0, 75 l)
versteigert für:  2.913,12 € (0,375 l)

2010 Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese lange Goldkapsel
Weingut Egon Müller - Scharzhof                 
versteigert für: 6.433,14 € (3,0 l)

2008 Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Eiswein Goldkapsel
Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich                              
versteigert für: 1.324,47 € (1,5 l)

1971 Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach
versteigert für: 1.561,88 € (0, 7 l)

2010 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Eiswein Goldkapsel
Weingut Emrich Schönleber                   
versteigert für: 1.149,54 € (1,5 l)

2010 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese lange Goldkapsel
Weingut Joh. Jos. Prüm                     
versteigert für: 910,35 € (1,5 l)

2010 Hattenheim Nussbrunnen Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese
Weingut Balthasar Ress                       
versteigert für: 662,24 € (0,75 l)

1990 Frickenhäuser Kapellenberg Silvaner Trockenbeerenauslese
Weingut Bickel-Stumpf                       
versteigert für: 637,25 € (0,75 l)

 

Wine Auctions – a Tradition With a Future

Since its founding in 1897 (VDP-Rheingau), when the VDP was known as auctioneers of “Naturweine” (natural, or unchaptalized, wines), the auctions have served its members as a benchmark of the market for top German wines.

The fine distinction of the VDP auctions is that all wines come directly from the producers’ cellars – a guarantee of the wines’ authenticity and quality. Only the best lots of a vintage come under the hammer, i.e. wines from individual vineyard sites, ranging from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese. The wines of the newest vintage predominate, supplemented by a limited number of rarities. Minimum starting prices run the gamut from reasonable to expensive, depending on the renown of the vintner, the vintage, the wine’s origin and quality level, as well as the number of bottles available.  

 

“Wet” Auctions – Quite an Experience

All auctions include a morning pre-tasting of all wines – except for rarities and single-bottle lots. During the actual auction itself, these wines are poured again and can be sampled before the auctioneer begins the bidding. Those who wish to attend both the pre-tasting as well as the auction can purchase a combination ticket. These are available on site and can also be ordered online.

Every year several hundred devotees of top-quality wines travel from abroad to stock up on rare wines. The steadily growing presence of international guests from the USA, Japan, Benelux, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and increasingly, Eastern Europe, is a sign that the annual wine auctions help foster the image of Germany’s finest wines well beyond the German border.

 

Record Prices

Often, young wines achieve new world records. In 2000, for example, a 1999 Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese from the Rheingau estate Weingut Robert Weil fetched DM 6,235 per bottle, while in 2001, a 750-ml bottle of 1994 Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese from Weingut Egon Müller-Scharzhof of Wiltingen on the Saar topped that record with DM 9,228.

The absolute record was set in 1987, when one bottle of 1735 Johannisberger Riesling from Weingut Schloss Schönborn fetched DM 53,00 (ca. €26,000). The winning bid was placed by a German-Canadian businessman.

 

ERSTE LAGE presentation - An additional highlight for the trade and press:

Sunday, 23 September 2012, 2:00 - 6:00 p.m.

In the lay brothers’ dormitory of  the venerable Rheingau monastery Kloster Eberbach: Grosse Gewächse (great growths), the Grands Crus of Germany, of vintage 2011 (white wines) and 2010 (red wines) will be presented. Visitors can sample the rarities of tomorrow in their earliest stage of development.

 

VDP. The Prädikat Wine Estates – and Their Eagle

The VDP logo – a stylized eagle bearing a cluster of grapes – guarantees authentic wine pleasure. When the VDP eagle adorns the capsule of a wine, one can rest assured that it’s one of the best German wines from one of the best-known wine estates of the country. With its stringent criteria for membership – at present, some 200 estates belong – the VDP is the bulwark of quality and opposes all efforts in today’s globalized world to produce homogenous, or even synthetic, wine. It is an alliance of quality fanatics, who work  hard, often in stony soils and on steep slopes, to bring forth the best from their excellent sites. They firmly believe that wine and joie de vivre are synonymous. The VDP eagle – there’s no better guarantor of the quality and the producer of a wine.