Germany & Austria
AlThough uK CoNSumERS are great fans of sparkling wines, the biggest drinkers are the germans, with overall sales worth €1.34bn in 2016.
germans do not drink much Champagne, Prosecco or Cava, but are huge fans of sekt – a style of wine that’s rarely exported – drinking more than five bottles per person each year. ‘Sekt’ simply means ‘sparkling wine’ in german, with the vast majority being of (at best) average quality and produced from either imported or home-produced grapes (the latter being labelled ‘Deutscher Sekt’).
Around 95% of sekt is made by the Charmat method, with little of it being particularly notable. But that’s all changing, according to germanborn Anne Krebiehl mW, an expert commentator on german and Austrian wines.
‘In recent years there has been a real renaissance of quality Riesling and there’s a lot happening now,’ states Krebiehl. ‘Younger winemakers are getting in on the act and winzersekt [single-varietal, traditional method] and single-vineyard sekts are starting to appear. I think german sekt is certainly a category to watch,’ she adds.
over the border, Austria has a small but evolving sekt industry. Although the first Austrian sparkling wines were produced in 1842, the new wave of Austrian producers started to focus attention on this style in 1989 and 1990 – with significant names such as Bründlmayer and Steininger leading the way.
grapes are mostly sourced from the north of the country in the Weinviertel region, bordering the Czech Republic. In this evolving industry, winemakers are still trying to decide which approach is best – using classic Champagne grape varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, or focusing on the different grapes and terroirs that Austria offers.
In 2015 a three-tier quality ‘pyramid’ was introduced, emphasising grape origin and maturation on lees.
Although production is small, Austrian sekt is of high quality and worth seeking out.