Neustadt seminar
This year’s theory only course was held in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse and was hosted by the VDP, The German Wine Institute and the City of Neustadt. The course was attended by nine students from Australia, France, USA, UK, Sweden, Finland and Hong Kong.
Konstantin Baum MW, Steve Charters MW, Alison Flemming MW, Caro Maurer MW and Neil Tully MW all gave presentations to the students. Invited speakers from Germany gave insights into the history of German wine, the impacts of climate change and the state of the German wine industry. Con Simos from the AWRI ran a winemaker Q&A session. Field trips to Weingut Dr Wehrheim and Reh Kendermann impressed upon students the diversity of scale of the industry. Students sat two mock exams…a surprisingly well received item in the schedule.
Each evening we were hosted to events arranged by the host organisations. Likely the students were better informed than me about the quality and styles of Pfalz wines but these evening tastings transformed my opinions about the region’s wines. This is the first time the the theory only has been held in Neustadt, and is best summed up by an email received from one of the students, ‘Thank you for running the course this week. It was the best MW seminar I have attended, and I have attended a lot of them so that should mean something’.