Not so long ago German wines were commonplace. On every restaurant wine list you could find a Piesporter or a Liebfraumilch and on better lists there were Bernkastelers and Niersteiners. In the blink of an eye that's all changed - where once German wines figured heavily among the whites now it's the wines of Australia and New Zealand that predominate. I'm no market analyst, but a few reasons occur to me as to why this is so.

The first is that horrid word 'sophistication'. Before the recent massive upsurge of growth in the wine market, consumers knew little about wine and were prepared to be given guidance by advertisements. Heavily advertised brands like Blue Nun and Black Tower were often people's first foray into the world of wine. These bland, inoffensive, commercial wines were produced in quantities previously unknown; there were vineyards on the Rhine that produced 200,000 litres of wine per hectare, or put another way, five times the Bordeaux average. It's an accepted truth in oenology that the more grapes you collect per hectare, the less intense the flavour of those grapes will be. So wines produced like this will never be more than bland. Consumers soon learned that there was more to wine than this and discovered better wines, leaving the branded wines behind them.

The second reason is probably the labelling. In true Teutonic fashion a German wine label carries a wealth of confusing but precise information, not only to enlighten the consumer, but also to create the impression of integrity. A couple of major scandals involving the adulteration of wines knocked that on the head some years ago. The result was that between incomprehensible labelling, a tarnished reputation and an image of 'beginner's wines', the export market all but collapsed. All this then, is the perception. But does it reflect the actuality?

The best vineyards in Germany lie as far north as it is possible to get grapes to mature. They are grown on unhospitable terrain, fit for no other kind of cultivation. Yet despite these obvious drawbacks, some truly remarkable wines are made. When German whites are at their best there's a fine harmony between the acidity and the sugar content, and added to this base there's the intensity of flavour that comes from the noble Riesling grape. The Riesling grape produces almost all of Germany's great wines, but as with all quality things, it comes with a price; in this case half the yield of, say, the Sylvaner grape.

Wine of the Week

Rudesheimer Riesling Trocken, Carl Ehrhard, 2000

The word 'Trocken' in the name means 'dry', and this is a wine that would go well with food. Not as bone dry as a Muscadet, but like all good Rieslings it has a richness of flavour and a long aftertaste. The same shipper makes a superb 'Auslese' as well, which has a remarkable 14% of alcohol.

Available Karwig Wines and selected Supervalue outlets. RRP €11.50