At the invitation of the Aachen wine dealer Aix Vinum, we had the opportunity to take a closer look at the WINEfair berlin 2017. A fair completely to our liking – in contrast to many other fairs nowadays, we were offered all kinds of opportunities to gather our own culinary experience without having to order wise wines at once – which in our opinion should also be the appropriate credo of an end consumer fair.
The opening scenario was a little reminiscent of the start of the New York Marathon – the crowd gathered opposite the Mercure Hotel, in front of the large steel gates of the exhibition grounds and looked forward to the starting signal.
When the starting signal was given, we held back a little to avoid the crowds of visitors who – as at every trade fair – always want to be the first. Over the years you learn more – every good trade fair is like a good buffet – it is always replenished – because nothing is more damaging to your perception than inappropriate stress.
When the first plug of visitors got lost, we entered the entrance area of the fair and immediately equipped ourselves with a few deposit-based wine glasses.
Already here we got some interesting notes of culinary “wine companions”. There were all sorts of cheeses, all kinds of pastries and hearty food to taste. But this time our focus was on the liquid products, which should also be the focus of a wine fair.
The exhibition stands were very numerous and extended over several halls. It made the impression as if every winegrower of the country and beyond was represented here. Of course, we had chosen a few places to go from the handy trade fair guide and headed first to the Laumersheim Winery. Here there should be something new and very fine – the noble sweet “Pälzer Scherry” – already the imaginative name aroused our interest. What should I say, ice-cooled a really unique drop that not everyone can call his own. With its 0.375l, the bottle had exactly the right size to keep the probability of headaches in check on the following day if the bottle was to be emptied ad hoc.
After this we walked through the holy halls of the wines and were inspired by other Germans but also Hungarian & Chilean wines. The exhibitors always took the time not only to talk about sales, but also to give details about their grapes, the respective growing areas and the pressing.
After our tour we went on a pilgrimage to Aix Vinum – the chance to taste the whole range of the Australian Mollydooker family was too promising. After all, all Shiraz wines of this winery are on the highest ranks of the evaluation lists worldwide. The 2012 vintage of Carnival of Love was according to Wine Spectator in 2014 the second best wine worldwide…and the first place was taken by a port, which makes this Australian personally the best “real” wine of this vintage for us.
It was a fantastic experience to taste the rich and fruity wines like the Boxer, the Carnival of Love or the Blue Eyed Boy at the Aix Vinum booth. Niklas Kudlek from Aix Vinum provided us with all the details of the respective wines and of course had a matching story for each vintage – you can see that the man in Aachen regularly organises proper wine seminars. On the part of the general importer of Mollydooker wines in Germany we had of course expected this.
It took some time until we could separate from the pure dark grapes. Then we quickly bought a 2012 Blue Eyed Boy for our home and had just enough time to taste the delicacies planned for the end, namely delicious port wines.
Sogevinus Fine Wines, as the best producer of port wines, had an offer of the Golden League 2016 on the counter. There were various vintages of Burmester and some Kopke to marvel at.
If you want to taste such sweet and high-percentage port wines for the final, it is advisable to be clear in advance what this might mean for the “skull” the next day – quite apart from the necessary homecoming strategy – but there were no problems with the qualities.
What shall I say it was an extremely successful conclusion, the next taxi was ours and with the Kopke 10 & L.B.V. 2012 we were able to secure two good bottles.
Our conclusion, the WINEfair berlin 2017 was definitely worth it. We saw and enjoyed a lot of new, but also familiar things. We can recommend this fair with a clear conscience to anyone who is in favour of a good wine. It was quite full, but all the visitors we met were very open-minded and animated…we are already looking forward to the next WINEfair berlin.