Rheingau throws down the gauntlet

Yesterday in London was not exceptional but it was one of the busier days in the wine trade calendar. We could choose between the Masters of Wine’s annual burgundy tasting (another look at 2008s from various family-owned domaines); a Vega Sicilia tasting; the annual generic Portuguese tasting at Lords cricket ground; and a particularly bullish showing by a group of Rheingau members of Germany’s smart producer association, the VDP.

I went to the last two and heard about the dramatically shrunk 2010 vintage in Germany where a poor weather meant an extended, uneven flowering that left the potential crop reduced...