Your top five German wine producers

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

Merkelbach
Hexamer
Donnhoff
J. J. Adam
Willi Schaefer

But I buy mostly Kabinett with a bit of Spatlese and GG, and then just open it when it sounds good. Some has drifted deeper into the cellar, but I just enjoy the wines.
I bought a mixed case yesterday with some producers I have been looking learn more about(Lauer) or re-up on(Muller-Catoir) and from 2014 and 2017, since those are birth years for my kids.

[Robert_Dentice]

In all honestly I wish I knew what it is by holdings but I don’t have good records:

I would guess it is some combination of the following:

Keller
Egon Muller
Schafer Frohlich
Ulli Stein
Falkenstein

Just for the heck of it I picked one random producer, Donnhoff, and I was shocked at how many bottles I own so I think I might be surprised if I had an accurate inventory.

Breuer is the only producer that I am lighter on than I would like.

[Adam_Noble]

JJ Prum
Schaefer Frolich
Willi Schaefer
Donnhoff
Selbach-Oster

So no real surprises here.

Richter is about even with S-O I noticed.

[Robert_Dentice]

Where is Egon Müller?

Number 9 for me

How about by value : )

[Robert_Dentice]

These are my top 5, as a percentage of all riesling in my collection.

1. JJ Prum (18.8%)
2. Martin Mullen (13.3%)
3. Willi Schaefer (11.3%)
4. Hofgut Falkenstein (8.9%)
5. Von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus (8.2%)

My collection is pretty top heavy with these producers, and then under 2-3% for others. Max Ferd Richter may take over #5 once my 3 cases from the 2019 vintage arrive. Peter Lauer and Emrich-Schonleber are not far behind.

Nice work!

[Russell_Faulkner]

Where is Egon Müller?

Number 9 for me

How about by value : )

Well, much of it is auction wines bought back when doing so made sense!

[scamhi]

Falkenstein
Egon Muller
JJ Prum
Donnhoff
Willi Schaefer and Peter Lauer tied for 5th

[Matthew_King]

Keller
Donnhoff
Prum
Rings (!)
Schaefer Frolich

[Brian_S_t_o_t_t_e_r]

1. Keller (more than twice #2)
2. Emrich-Schonleber
3. Schafer-Frolich
4. Ratzenberger (bet no one else has that in Top 5!)
5. Andreas Laible (I’d be surprised on that one as well)

Next tier includes Battenfeld-Spanier, JJ Prum, Julian Haart, Weiser-Kuntsler, Willi Schaefer, Wittman - not in order. Then there’s another 20 or so producers with more than 10 bottles. 51 producers in total.

Haven’t heard of Ratzenberger. Do they get imported to the U.S. or do you special order? I assume based on your preferences they do dry wines?

[David_Bu3ker]

I am betting that Sara gets Ratzenberger through Moore Bros.

[Howard_Cooper]

1. JJ Prum - They keep edging up as I’m aging rather than drinking.
2. Egon Muller - none purchased in the last 5 years but still aging rather than drinking
3. Willi Schaefer - aging and drinking
   4 (tied). Selbach Oster & von Schubert - aging and drinking

Merkelbach was among my “most purchased” but also my “most consumed shortly after release”.

I remember when Muller Catoir would have been an easy #1 but now I only have one left.

I am down to 5 bottles of Muller Catoir - 3 Rieslaners and 2 Rieslings. None more recent than 2006.

[Howard_Cooper]

1. Keller (more than twice #2)
2. Emrich-Schonleber
3. Schafer-Frolich
4. Ratzenberger (bet no one else has that in Top 5!)
5. Andreas Laible (I’d be surprised on that one as well)

Next tier includes Battenfeld-Spanier, JJ Prum, Julian Haart, Weiser-Kuntsler, Willi Schaefer, Wittman - not in order. Then there’s another 20 or so producers with more than 10 bottles. 51 producers in total.

Haven’t heard of Ratzenberger. Do they get imported to the U.S. or do you special order? I assume based on your preferences they do dry wines?

Years ago Ratzenberger was a Terry Theise wine. Have not seen them in a long time.

[GMORIN]

1. Falkenstein (>50% of my Riesling)
2. Schatzel
3. Willi Schaefer
4. Weiser-Kunstler
5. A.J. Adam

Falkenstein has been carried by my local shop for a while and has been a go-to of mine since I have started in this hobby since I buy almost exclusively Kabinett or Feinherb styles.

[RichardFlack]

Where is Egon Müller?

Number 9 for me

How about by value : )

That is an excellent point in general. I’d say that ranking by $, rather than by #, is better guide to a collectors judgement of the worth of a wine.

[Bob_Hughes]

Schafer-Frohlich
JJ Prum
Donnhoff
Burklin-Wolf
Zilliken

[David_Bu3ker]

Number 9 for me

How about by value : )

That is an excellent point in general. I’d say that ranking by $, rather than by #, is better guide to a collectors judgement of the worth of a wine.

Why? I bought tons of Prum when it was crazy inexpensive for what it is. The dollars don’t add up, but the bottles and deliciousness sure do.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

1. Keller (more than twice #2)
2. Emrich-Schonleber
3. Schafer-Frolich
4. Ratzenberger (bet no one else has that in Top 5!)
5. Andreas Laible (I’d be surprised on that one as well)

Next tier includes Battenfeld-Spanier, JJ Prum, Julian Haart, Weiser-Kuntsler, Willi Schaefer, Wittman - not in order. Then there’s another 20 or so producers with more than 10 bottles. 51 producers in total.

Haven’t heard of Ratzenberger. Do they get imported to the U.S. or do you special order? I assume based on your preferences they do dry wines?

I am betting that Sara gets Ratzenberger through Moore Bros.

Yes, through Moore Brothers. They are way off the beaten track for most, though far from all, US Riesling lovers. Some of our dear WB friends in Germany and other parts of Europe know them a lot better. They are oddball in a lot of ways - holding back for late releases, for example - and they are more inconsistent than I’d like, but the highs are very high and they have some excellent holdings. They’ve been doing a lot with the dry wines since well before the GGs came to be, but they do some sweets as well and some very good sekt. The pure drinking pleasure is what Ratz is about for me. Not to say objective quality isn’t there as well, it just never gets in the way of the deliciousness factor.

[Howard_Cooper]

Number 9 for me

How about by value : )

That is an excellent point in general. I’d say that ranking by $, rather than by #, is better guide to a collectors judgement of the worth of a wine.

That would be fine if we bought all of our wines yesterday. Many of my German wines are 10-25 years old. What is their FMV?

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

1. Keller (more than twice #2)
2. Emrich-Schonleber
3. Schafer-Frolich
4. Ratzenberger (bet no one else has that in Top 5!)
5. Andreas Laible (I’d be surprised on that one as well)

Next tier includes Battenfeld-Spanier, JJ Prum, Julian Haart, Weiser-Kuntsler, Willi Schaefer, Wittman - not in order. Then there’s another 20 or so producers with more than 10 bottles. 51 producers in total.

Haven’t heard of Ratzenberger. Do they get imported to the U.S. or do you special order? I assume based on your preferences they do dry wines?

Here’s a note of mine on a 2005 Ratz we had in 2018. I think it sums up well what I love about the wines:

• 2005 Ratzenberger Bacharacher Posten Riesling Spätlese feinherb - Germany, Mittelrhein (7/29/2018)
  This wine never ceases to make me happy. I get why Ratz will never get the scores or the hype, as the style is subtle rather than exuberant or showy, but to me there is such character and balance, as well as elegance and (more than anything) interest to these wines. It’s especially nice to have the feinherb level available, as it’s spot on for a lot of the Asian food we pair with it.

Posted from CellarTracker

[Greg_K]

1. Schaefer-Frohlich (by a reasonable distance)
2. Willi Schaefer
3. Selbach Oster
4. von Schubert
5. Probably Donnhoff, but recent vintages of Weiser-Kunstler may change that.

I don’t have Keller here mostly because I’ve not had enough of it to be able to definitively place it in my hierarchy as I can’t quite justify paying the prices.