AT this time of the year, some of the most idyllic places on the planet are the tiny villages that climb the steep banks of Germany's Mosel Valley. Grapes have been harvested and the riesling is in the barrels. It's time for vintners to relax.
So what is Johannes Selbach of the old family wine house in the scenic village of Zeltingen doing scurrying about Hong Kong? 'Trying to tell people about the new German wine,' he said. He clutched the Mandarin Hotel's wine list, pointing to a modest but promising selection of vintages from his country.
Not a bad, albeit small, choice, he admitted. But why were there not a lot more wines from Rhineland, Baden, Stuttgart and the Mosel Valley on Hong Kong lists? 'It's because people don't know about our wines,' he said.
Herr Selbach intends to change that, with a proposed series of events, tastings and promotions. Selbach, as well as running the winery which has been in the family for generations, is also on the board of the German Wine Institute.
One reason Hong Kong people hesitate before ordering a German wine is the formidable labelling. Labels are ornate, looking more like the pedigree of one of the Teutonic knightly clans than telling a thirsty wine lover what is in a bottle of plonk.
What is the non-German speaker to make, for instance, of Selbach-Oster Riesling Spatlese Mosel-Zeltingen Sonnenuhr 1992? Well, it's an award-winning medium-fruity wine made of riesling grapes at the family estate in the village of Zeltingen in the Mosel Valley. A couple of years ago, the US Wine Spectator picked this as one of the best-drinking German vintages.
When Johannes Selbach speaks of 'new' Mosel wines, he talks of the latest revolution in vineyards where Roman legionnaires planted grapes as they hesitantly probed the wild frontier lands of ferocious German tribes.
