Financial Times

JANCIS ROBINSON MW was rather perturbed that upon her arrival at the generic German wine tasting, every other person there was keen to introduce her to 'the director of the International Sugar Organization'. On the 2004 harvest, she notes that by the end of September, 'acidity levels in Germany's great Riesling grapes were still worryingly high. But fortunately, as so often in Germany, good weather in October finally brought ripeness. Just about everything in 2004 was the opposite of sweltering, dry 2003, and again, just as in Bordeaux, the most common word on every wine producer's lips about the 2004s is classic.