Weingut Becker – Fritz Becker Interview

Weingut Friedrich Becker is best known for making Pinot Noir and Friedrich Becker, because of his work with Pinot Noir is arguably one of the most influential wine makers of the grape in the Pfalz region, if not Germany as a whole. His Pinot Noir has been described as ‘World Class” by the Gault & Millau German wine review book and his wines are sought after the world over and are found mostly in the top hotels and restaurants of the world.

Fritz Becker, Friedrich’s son, is now in charge of winemaking at the winery and with a heavy burden of expectancy on his shoulders, has managed through his father’s tutelage to continue to make some of the best Pinot Noir in the world and wines that people compare to the best wines of Burgundy. In fact, some of their vineyards are located in France and it’s only because of special dispensation that they can grow there and continue to call the wines German.

Wine Times caught up with Fritz Becker on his recent trip to Hong Kong to talk about his family and how he got into winemaking and how grapes grown in France can be labeled as German. So, sitting down for a coffee in Hong Kong’s Mira hotel, we had a little chat.

WTHK: Did you learn about winemaking from your family or did you go to school to study it? Or both?!

FB: “Well, of course mostly with the family! When I was a kid I had to go with my grandfather after school to the vineyards (probably to get out of the way at home!) which I did not like that much as I was only from like the age of 10 to 15 or so! With time I learned to love it and get the job done. I learned mostly from my father and grandfather but also studied in two different wineries and have also travelled the world to work in different wineries. But it’s not for everyone, my brother for example, wanted nothing to do with it; he became an investment banker”!

WTHK: You focus more on Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. Why the focus on more Burgundian grapes than traditional German varietals?

FB: “That’s got a lot to do with our history as our winery is very close to the French border. We are 200 meters from the border of “Today’s France” as my grandfather would say! We are just north of Alsace and curiously, 80 per cent of the vineyards we own are actually in France. It’s regulated by a state treaty between France and Germany so we are allowed to do this as our family has owned the vineyards for more than 200 years and as the Alsace has changed hands so many times in those 200 years this is the outcome! But more than 800 years ago the monks planted the traditional French varietals in the area and this is why we still use them to this day. You know the church has always known the best places to plant grapes and our soils are limestone, much like the soils of Burgundy thus we continue to focus on what grows best”.

WTHK: But you also grow Riesling and many more varieties?

FB: “Yes, we make wines from other varieties too, but we are talking about very small amounts. The winery is still 70 per cent Pinot Noir, roughly 15 per cent Pinot Gris, 5 per cent Pinot Blanc and then the rest – so it’s really a very small percentage. My grandfather was a co-operative winemaker from 1940 to 1973 as our town was completely destroyed in the war. So when he came home after the war there was nothing left – cellar gone, winery gone, house gone, so they had to start from scratch. The winemakers in our town founded a co-operative to get the business of winemaking going again. So when my father took over in 1973 we were left with all this abundance of varieties. But these days, everything we plant is Pinot Noir”.

WTHK: Would you say than Pfalz is the premium region in Germany for Pinot Noir?

FB: “Oh! I could not say that, my colleagues form Baden would be mad at me! There are many very good Pinot Noir producers in Germany I have to say. Our big advantage is the soil, the microclimate and the old vines. Our vines were the first Pinot Noir vines to be planted in the region after the war”.

WTHK: Are your wines designed for long-term aging?

FB: “Yes, that’s very important especially for the Pinot Noirs. We want to show and prove to the world that German Pinot Noirs have very good aging potential and that they are well made. Even the basic wines we make we want them to have a bit of age on them. The Premier Cru wines we hold back in the cellar so we can sell them when they are ready as so many wines are sold and consumed too early. This is what we work on, it’s expensive but we try to do it more and more”.

WTHK: Do you have a favourite grape to work with?

FB: “Erm…Pinot Noir!! Easy question”!

WTHK: Do you taste a lot of other Pinot Noir to see what others are doing?

FB: “Yes, a lot from all over the world. Burgundy is the bench holy grail and DRC is the benchmark so I try to buy and taste as much of these as possible and I believe it’s very important to taste these wines”.

WTHK: The family have run the winery for seven generations – you are the seventh – will you pass the winery on to the next generation? Is that the plan?

FB: “The next generation is on the way! There will be a little Fritz in July so I hope to pass it on to him of course, but I can’t force him but let’s see what happens. We are working on the improvement of the long term reputation and quality of German wines. Twenty years ago it was hard to talk about and sell German wines but step by step we are getting to the point where people recognize German wines as quality wines – not just Liebfraumilch and stuff like that”!

WTHK: Brands such as Black Tower and Blue Nun have helped people recognize German wines but I don’t think they’re of the quality that Germans would want others around the world to perceive their wines. Do you agree?

FB: “They have done some harm to the image of German wines but there was a big market for them before. They still sell a lot these days too. But in Germany most wineries are small with limited production and there is no one that is able to produce wines in the quantity of the companies you mentioned. No one can make 2 million bottles of good quality in Germany”.

WTHK: What are your views with pairing your wines with Chinese food?

FB: “Talking about Pinot; yesterday we had a tea smoked duck and it worked perfectly with the wine. With spicy food it’s difficult to pair with Pinot as they’re too elegant and fragile to pair with this style of food. But there are a lot of good opportunities here in Hong Kong to pair our wines with Asian food and we have had some very nice experiences with pairing whilst here”.

Wines from Weingut Becker are available from Pieroth Hong Kong Limited and can be contacted at sales@pieroth.com.hk or you can call them on 2481-3960. For more information go to their website – www.pieroth.hk