Germany

Join Zena and Jimi, and their friends Jon and Kelly, on location at Kloster Eberbach in Germany’s Rheingau, a nearly 900-year-old former Cistercian monastery with one of the region’s most important wine histories. After an intensive tasting and a tour through the monastery, they sit down to talk Riesling, Pinot Noir, terroir and the way climate can completely reshape a wine. They also decode some of the language that can make German wine feel intimidating and talk about how those words can help you understand what is actually in the bottle.One of the most revealing moments comes when they taste two consecutive vintages of Kloster Eberbach’s Rüdesheimer Berg Schlossberg Spätburgunder GG from the same vineyard. Jimi is drawn to the cooler, more taut 2021, while Kelly prefers the warmer, riper 2022. Same parcel, same grape, same producer but two growing seasons and two distinctly different expressions of place. It’s wine, history, vintage variation and a little friendly disagreement, recorded onsite at Kloster Eberbach. Prost from the Rheingau!