false
false
false
false
GBP
Winelister
  • EN / FR
  • MENU
About us
Our work
Team
Careers
Blog
Contact
Consulting Services
Data and analysis
Marketing and communications
Benchmarking
Brand strategy
Bespoke consulting
Trade and press communications
Market research
Event organisation
MENU
Data Tools
Wine search
Vintage chart
Reports
How it works
En Primeur
Pro Login
MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS
EN / FR
About us
Our work
Team
Careers
Blog
Contact
Consulting Services
Data and analysis
Marketing and communications
Benchmarking
Brand strategy
Bespoke consulting
Communications
Market research
Event organisation
Data Tools
Wine search
Vintage chart
Reports
How it works
En Primeur
Pro Login
MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS

The world's top Riesling brands

TOM BURCHFIELD
19 / 03 / 18
img

Riesling is amongst the greatest grapes at communicating time and place. Top Riesling is not only one of the most ageworthy of all wines, it is also one of the most versatile grapes, delivering crisp lime-scented examples in South Australia, and heady, honied, petrol aromas in the Mosel. The top five Riesling brands are a good example of this. Despite all hailing from Alsace and the Mosel, they showcase at least some of the variety that can, at times, cause confusion (but don’t extend to the tonguetwisting trockenbeerenauslese or flummoxing fuder numbers).

Alsatian heavyweight Trimbach fills the top two spots with its flagship Clos Sainte Hune (939) and Frédéric Emile (884). Clos Sainte Hune is the only Riesling to crack the 900-point mark in the Brand category, thus ranking amongst the most elite Brands on Wine Lister’s database. Its lead is thanks to its popularity – it is searched for twice as frequently as the group’s second-most popular wine (Prüm’s Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese). It is in fact Trimbach’s Frédéric Emile that achieves the greatest level of restaurant presence of the group, appearing in 37% of the world’s top establishments, it just pips Clos Sainte Hune to the post (34%). Confirming Trimbach as darling of the trade, the next best wine in the criterion (Prüm’s Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese) appears in 22% of top restaurants.

Egon Müller fills the last two spots with wines from the famous Scharzhofberger vineyard – its Kabinett (850) and Auslese (848). It is interesting that it is the Kabinett that comes out on top in the Brand category, despite trailing its sweeter sibling by significant margins in the Quality category (820 vs 974) and Economics category (523 vs 806). It manages to do so thanks to a greater breadth of restaurant presence (21% vs 16%), despite the Auslese achieving greater depth with 3.6 vintages / formats offered on average (the best of the group).

It is worth comparing the performance of Riesling’s top brands to the grape’s top Quality scores. Whilst these five brands achieve an average of 880 in the Brand category, the top five Rieslings by Quality score manage a remarkable average of 990 in the qualitative category. It seems that it is in terms of consumer popularity that Riesling struggles. Trimbach’s Clos Sainte Hune – the most popular Riesling in the world – is only the 241st most popular wine on Wine Lister’s database.

Riesling seems doomed to be perennially underappreciated, perhaps due to its range of sugar levels, or maybe the complexity of the German classification system. Certainly its remarkable quality does not command the brand recognition it deserves. If we compare the average of the top five Brand and Quality scores of 100% Riesling, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc wines, it is clear to see that Riesling’s outstanding quality does not currently result in a corresponding level of brand strength.

 
More news
A fresh pour with Jake Taub
Find out more
Bordeaux en primeur 2024: the campaign commences
Find out more
Critics’ consensus on the top Bordeaux wines of 2024
Find out more
A fresh pour with Alex Turnbull
Find out more
Ready to take action?
Contact us to arrange a no-obligation consultation
Sign up for our newsletter
What services would you like to keep up to date with?
Winelister
A GROUPE FIGARO COMPANY
Get in touch
team@wine-lister.com
+44 (0)20 7953 4092
Address
Wine Lister Limited,
231 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London,
SW1V 1AD
Connect
Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
Terms
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Wine Lister API
Prices
Winelister
A GROUPE FIGARO COMPANY
Get in touch
team@wine-lister.com
+44 (0)20 7953 4092
Address
Wine Lister Limited,
231 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London,
SW1V 1AD
Connect
Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
Terms
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Wine Lister API
Prices