Rheingau

Schatzi imports the Eins-Zwei-Zero series of alcohol-free wines from Leitz, an excellent and innovative riesling specialist in the Rheingau region of Germany.

This is an entry-level riesling that comes from different parts of the Rheingau region and so does not have a vineyard designation.

Along with a new cast of grapes, looking at Germany’s diversity also requires a new look at its wine geography beyond the quintet of prime riesling regions: Mosel, Rheingau, Pfalz, Nahe and Rheinhessen.

Some might be marked “grosses gewächs,” indicating a dry wine from a top site, unless it comes from the Rheingau region, where such a wine might be marked “erstes gewächs.”

Here’s part of an entry on the Rheingau producer Georg Breuer: “Early in love we may be ravishingly affectionate or exquisitely gentle, but tenderness takes years; it’s the sum of all the things we’ve forgiven and been forgiven for. When I sense it in a wine, it feels ... like you slipped through a seam in the hillside and found some eternal stream of kindness.”