All about wine
Interview: How do you see it, Mr Rebholz?
Mr Rebholz*, where did the rise of wines of the Southern Wine Route come from?
We didn’t start from the bottom. Also before there have been good vineyards with quality wine here in the Palatiate. However the opening of the VDP (“Verband der Prädikatsweingüter” or “the Association of Prädikat Wine Estates”) to South started the beginning of a new time. Since 1991 South has had more attention, because then the two vineyards Wehrheim and Rebholz were accepted to the VDP.
But how does it work?
I like to speak about "qualitative authority". It means honest cooperation and respecting each other. We have done that in our group of five winegrowers already for 15 years, and that is also stimulating for others. There is a big dynamic in such associations – it creates pressure to inside as well as outside. And a wished result is that everybody wants to be better.
What kind of developments do you see for the future in the sector?
Young winegrowers have strengthened the task, to make use of their potential and to raise the quality constantly. It is a chance, but also a challenge. In the VDP Palatinate we have five talented young winegrowers at present, who we will give the opportunity to be in the competition with some of the best winegrowers. Also the setting up of small groups such as the Südpfalz Connexion is a good way.
And how can the quality be improved?
The characteristic of the region is always the peak. Maybe the experience we get by making famous wines is valuable: the locations name has to be left out and only later on you put the name back into the focus. This is a wine, whose quality always has to be guaranteed. Right from the beginning this is a different kind of wine cultivation that most are used to – it works out only with a whole lot of handwork.
* Hansjörg Rebholz from the Vineyard Ökonomierat Rebholz is the chairman of the Association of Prädikat Wine Estates (Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter e.V.) of the Palatinate and the winegrower of the year 2002.