Wine critic Jancis Robinson on Wines of Germany

If you could only drink one grape variety for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

I have always said that Riesling is the best white wine grape in the world for me (...). But I also love German Silvaner, for example (...).

Why Riesling?

Because it clearly expresses where and on what soil it was grown. Riesling is refreshing, usually has a low alcohol content, and is an ideal accompaniment to food. And it can age very well in the bottle. 

You also describe wine as “geography in a bottle.”

Yes, because no other product we consume has a label that tells you where it comes from, what it's made of, and when it was produced. Every bottle of wine can be located on a map. Fascinating!

Can you taste the geography too?

The scientific theory that the vine absorbs tiny fragments of rock through its roots and transfers them to the grapes has been disproved. Nevertheless, I find that wines grown on volcanic soils, for example, have something in common. And the style of a wine also allows conclusions to be drawn about the climate and region in which the grapes were grown.

What do you think of non-alcoholic wines?

(...) I know that many people are working on developing a good non-alcoholic wine. That's the Holy Grail.

Studies show that women have a better sense of taste and smell. Do you perceive this to be the case?

I can't tell you how many male wine producers have said to me: My wife is a much better taster than I am. It's probably evolutionary. In early times, it was mostly women who judged whether meat or other supplies were still edible by smell. It has also been proven that women have more taste receptors on their tongues.

Unlike well-known wine critics such as Robert Parker or James Suckling, you only award a maximum of 20 points instead of the usual 100. Why is that?

That's what sets us apart. And I'm quite proud that 18 points has long been a very high score for us. The quality of wines is constantly improving, but competition in the wine market is also becoming increasingly fierce.

If you've been throwing around 100 out of 100 points for years, there's no room for improvement. You've rated 152 wines with 20 points, including German wines from Egon Müller, Joh. Jos. Prüm, and the Dönnhoff winery. What makes a great wine?

The perfect balance. It has to be interesting and fascinating. The longer it lingers in the mouth, the better. And: Great wines must be able to mature. Often, they only develop their full potential after a few years in the bottle.

Do you find the wine world too elitist?

Many in the industry want to make wine more accessible, but it is a complex luxury product. The days when people drank wine because water was unclean are long gone. The market for simple wines is shrinking. Often, it's all about expensive premium wines. Yet the most exciting wines are not found at the top end of the price scale, but rather in the mid-range.

Background: 
Jancis Robinson was born in 1950 in Cumbria, near the Scottish border. She later studied mathematics and philosophy at Oxford. She has written several books on wine and appears in film and television productions. She has been writing a wine column for the English-language Financial Times for more than 30 years. In 2000, she founded jancisrobinson.com, where she publishes news from the world of wine and wine reviews. She also publishes the Great Wine Atlas, which is considered the standard reference work for information on wine-growing regions, grape varieties, and producers around the world. The influential wine critic has reviewed more than 116,000 wines in her career.