Performance Test of Winegrowers' Cooperatives: Germany, France and Italy in Competition

The best winegrowers' cooperatives 2022 from Germany, France and Italy were honoured for their outstanding achievements by Meininger's sister publication WEINWIRTSCHAFT at the Deidesheimer Hof. Clemens Gerke reports.

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Award ceremony in Deidesheim (Photo: Jens Hedtke)
Award ceremony in Deidesheim (Photo: Jens Hedtke)

140 cooperatives from Germany, France and Italy took part in WEINWIRTSCHAFT's performance test of winegrowers' cooperatives. On 30 June, the editors awarded the best cooperatives at the Deidesheimer Hof in the Palatinate.

Frank Männle, Martin Bäuerle, Thomas Hirt, Franz Männle from Oberkirch with Clemens Gerke (Photo: Jens Hedkte)
Frank Männle, Martin Bäuerle, Thomas Hirt, Franz Männle from Oberkirch with Clemens Gerke (Photo: Jens Hedkte)

Germany

The Oberkirch Winegrowers prevailed with their wines as the best winegrowers' cooperative in Germany in the competition. In a razor-thin finish, the Oberkirch vintners left the Mayschoß-Altenahr vintners' cooperative and the central winegrowers’ cooperative of Württemberg (Württembergische Weingärtner-Zentralgenossenschaft) behind them in second and third place. The Oberkirchers scored well with Pinot varieties grown in Baden. Even their basic wines scored 87 and 88 points.

In fourth place, was Dagernova Weinmanufaktur, another cooperative from the Ahr region, ahead of Felsengartenkellerei Besigheim. The best winegrowers' cooperative in the Palatinate was awarded to Weinbiet Manufaktur from Neustadt an der Weinstraße.

France

From France, last year's runner-up, the winegrowers' cooperative La Chablisienne, won first place. For the Burgundian co-operative, this is the third victory after 2017 and 2014. The Vignerons des Terres Secrètes, which also comes from Burgundy, on the other hand, was on the podium for the first time, in second place. The same applied to the third place, the Société Coopérative Vinicole Bestheim. This was the first Alsatian cooperative to reach the podium. Once again, last year's winner Plaimont proved to be strong, prevailing in the Bordeaux/ Aquitaine/Sud-Ouest region. In the Rhône region, which was also in contention, Cellier des Princes prevailed, and the best winegrowers' cooperative from Languedoc-Roussillon was Anne de Joyeuse.

Italy

In Italy, the winegrowers' cooperatives from South Tyrol stand out so much that they have been ranked separately from the other Italian cooperatives for years. In South Tyrol, the Andrian Winery came out on top, ahead of Terlan and Girlan.

In the Italian ranking, last year's winner, Cantina Valpolicella Negrar from Veneto, repeated its victory, followed by last year's third-placed Cantina Terre del Barolo from Piedmont. Third on the podium was Cantina Frentana from Abruzzo, which was also the best cooperative in Central Italy. An enormous improvement in quality could be observed here in the last two years. The overall fifth place winner, Cantine Ermes from Sicily, came out on top as the best winegrowers' cooperative in Southern Italy.
 

Extensive Tasting

WEINWIRTSCHAFT has been conducting the performance test of winegrowers' cooperatives for French and Italian cooperatives since 2010; the German winegrowers' cooperatives have been taking part in the competition for much longer. The rules are similar for all three countries. The producers each have to line up six wines from current vintages, and the winery with the best average score wins. To get a good picture of the winery's overall range, the six samples must include two basic wines and one regional specialty. In addition, German wineries are not allowed to produce noble sweet wines. This prevents a winery from winning exclusively with very rare premium or treasure wines.

In total, the jury tasted 840 wines from 140 wineries. From Germany, 54 winegrowers' cooperatives took part in the competition, from France there were 44 and from Italy 42.

 

 

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