There’s More to German Wine Than Riesling

Plunging into German riesling is like a great high dive into a pool of dazzling wines — graceful, complex and utterly delicious.

Some people gladly leap over the edge. Others hang back, mistakenly believing that all rieslings are sweet, or shrinking from the supposedly indecipherable nomenclature of German wine labels.

Regardless of where they stand, most consumers share the perception that riesling represents the entirety of German wine.

But a whole other Germany exists, of myriad reds, rosés and whites that make clear that riesling is only part of that nation’s wine story. These wines offer many of the joys that attract riesling lovers. Best of all, they also are often great values.

Yet, astoundingly, these wines are practically unknown in the United States except to a tiny band of importers who seek them out and a small group of aficionados who adore them.

Count me among them. Inspired by a delicious German pinot blanc I found for a recent 20 Under $20 column, I shopped at Manhattan wine stores and came up with 12 superb bottles that demonstrate the appeal of German wines beyond riesling.

Some of these wines might seem familiar, like pinot noir, though they may seem surprising to find in Germany, where the grape is often called spätburgunder.

Red wine in Germany? Pinot noir has been there since only the 13th century, when it was first planted along the Rhine by Cistercian monks, who performed the same good deed in Burgundy.

Pinot noir frequently struggled to ripen in the cool German climate. It was often lean and pale, not unattractive but without much depth or complexity. But climate change, while a menace to humanity, has enhanced German pinot noir, as have improved farming methods and know-how.

Many other grapes are making delightful wines in Germany. They include pinot blanc, known as weissburgunder in German; blaufränkisch, which in Germany is generally called lemberger; silvaner, often rendered sylvaner; and trollinger, better known in Italian as schiava.

You’ll also find wholly obscure grapes like elbling and blauer portugieser, which have no aliases of note.

“Riesling is still the benchmark in Germany, the way Burgundy or Bordeaux is in France,” said Stephen Bitterolf, whose import company, Vom Boden, specializes in German wines, rieslings and beyond. “But I think what is happening is the realization that all of this other stuff has a deeper value that should be brought to the attention of the greater public.”

It wasn’t that long ago that a great wine homogenization seemed to be occurring around the world. Countries like Italy and Spain, rich with traditional wines, seemed to reject their indigenous grape varieties in favor of internationally known grapes like cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay.

In the last 20 years or so, these countries and many others — even the United States — have rediscovered the diversity of their grapes and wines, the breadth of which now seems to be cherished worldwide.

Germany, though, lagged behind. Riesling was always on an elevated plane, but other grapes, for the most part, were given the back of the market’s hand. Mr. Bitterolf calls it a “vicious circle of cheap wines.”

“You planted the grapes in the worst area, farmed them badly, then you say, ‘These are terrible wines,’’’ he said.

There were exceptions, of course. Grape growers like Stefan Vetter sought out old vineyards of silvaner, for example, nursed them back to health and then proved how good the wines could be.

Mr. Bitterolf also cited younger wine consumers in Germany, who were more open to exploration, who embraced the notion that these grapes, once consigned to the cheapest shelves, could make excellent wines.

Germany, too, has not been untouched by the world’s embrace of natural wines. One of the great achievements of that movement has been the resurrection of indigenous grapes and local customs that had long been cast aside.

Some of the bottles I found fit squarely in the natural-wine category. They may not have been filtered or clarified, but they are absolutely delicious.

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.

The wines I’ve chosen come from places like Ahr, a river valley that stretches southeast from Bonn, and Baden and Württemberg in the southwest, along with some of the more familiar regions.

Some of these producers don’t use the names of the appellations on their labels, preferring the generic term Landwein, just as many excellent producers use Vin de France in France or Vino di Tavola in Italy. In some cases it indicates nonconformity, or a disdain for the hidebound bureaucracies that decide what’s an acceptable representation of a particular appellation.

One important thing to point out: These dozen bottles all come from small family producers. They will not be easy to find. If you have access to good wine shops, however, you may find many other German bottles beyond riesling.

Don’t hesitate to try them out. My choices are not at all intended to be seen as the best bottles. They are simply 12 excellent examples of German wines other than riesling.

Here they are, in order from least to most expensive.