World Cup of Wine Quarter-Finals

The quarter-finals of the World Cup are where the action really hots up and the quality of the teams becomes apparent, at least in theory. The games themselves were actually quite disappointing, with just five goals and enlivened mostly by the decision of the Dutch manager, Louis van Gaal, to bring on a different goalkeeper for the penalty shoot-out, much to the surprise of the first-choice keeper. No disappointment with the two wines below, however.

France v Germany

France: it is very tempting to dismiss French wine as snobbish, elitist, and out of touch with the rest of the world. Tempting, because there is some truth to it. The best French wine is far too expensive for even the wealthier drinker, though that's in part due to foreign investors, while the cheapest French wine can taste even cheaper than it actually is - as if French winemakers don't think wine at that price matters. It does, as entry-level wine can give an overall impression of a producer's or region's wine to a consumer.

However, there are a couple of things to remember. Whenever I hear a customer say they prefer New World wine to Old World, I want to ask them, What are the grapes in that New World Wine? (Answer: almost always French.) Why is the wine a blend of, say, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot? (Answer: because that's what the French do.) If the wine's been aged in oak, where does that oak come from? (Answer: very often France.) France is still the model for most winemakers around the world, including Europe, and, along with Italy and Spain, the largest producer of wine in world.

Secondly, French wine can mean anything you want. France projects itself as a uniform, homeogeneous country, but it's as varied - culturally, geographically, linguistically - as any in Europe: Celtic Brittany, Atlantic Bordeaux, the Basque south west, Catalan Roussillon, subversive Languedoc, Mediterranean Rhone, isolated Provence, Alpine Savoie, Germanic Alsace, Flemish Flanders. This is a country heavily influenced by its neighbours, and that's reflected in the wines too.

Albert Mann Grand Cru Schlossberg Riesling 2011 (c.£35)

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Alsace was an area greatly contested by Germany and France, and it is still a heavily Germanic area - to imagine Alsace and its Franco-Germanic culture, listen to Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, who's fluent in both languages, speak. The grapes of Alsace are also found in both countries: Gewurztraminer (Gewürztraminer in Germany), Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), Sylvaner (Silvaner), Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder), and Riesling. The Rieslings of Alsace traditionally tend to be drier than their German counterparts, though German winemakers are producing more dry Rieslings nowadays.

The Alsace in question here is stunning: off-dry (surprisingly), with zesty lemon and lime aromas, and a developing nuttiness, with stone fruits as well, and delicate floral notes. There's a full-bodied richness, which comes from the granite soils of the Schlossberg vineyard. This is still a young wine, which is going to improve and improve, developing petrol and further nutty aromas.

Germany: pity Germany, if you can. One of the greatest wine countries, yet so little regarded by many wine drinkers; consistently producing some of the most distinctive wine in the world, yet, ironically for the producers of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, so bad at marketing that wine; and a wine industry overshadowed by the marketing success in the 1980s of Blue Nun and Black Tower. Those wines were cloyingly sweet and mass produced, bought by consumers because they (rightly) thought German wine was supposed to be good, but rejected, to the detriment of German wine and Riesling, because in those cases it actually wasn't.

When it comes to sweet wines, the most important aspect is the acidity: a wine with some sweetness will seem fat and cloying if the acidity is too low. This was the problem with the high-volume German wines of the 1980s: Blue Nun, which still sells 2m bottles a year in the UK alone, is now sweeter than it was in the 80s - it just happens to have a higher acidity, making the sweetness much more balanced.

As for those wines of the 80s, which damaged the reputation of Riesling, they were made from Müller-Thurgau, a nondescript, easy-to-grow grape.

Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücker Riesling Spätlese 2010, Nahe (c.£35)

Does a word of that name make any sense, apart from the name of the grape? This is the huge problem quality German wine has: German wine labels are as complicated and confusing as any in the world. In this instance, Dönnhoff refers to the producer, Oberhäuser Brücker to the village and vineyard, Riesling is the grape, Spätlese means the grapes have been picked after they've fully ripened, and Nahe is the region. 

The wine is medium sweet, with developing petrol aromas which are characteristic of Riesling, low alcohol (8% - the lower the alcohol in a German Riesling, the sweeter it will be), a honeyed sweetness, with juicy stone fruits. The sweet flavours dominate throughout, but they're all balanced by a naturally high acidity.

wine result a fantastically high contest, as one would expect from two great, neighbouring wine regions. Both are complex, ageworthy wines, with the sweetness being the major difference rather than quality. France 3-3 Germany, with Germany winning on penalties

actual result expectations before the game were of a repeat of the 1982 semi-final, one of the all-time great and controversial games: if the game had been anything like the wines, then it would have lived up to expectations. Instead, it was a drab affair where France forgot they had to actually try to win. France 0-1 Germany 

Is this the last wine match up? Will we have to resort to drinking Jägermeister for the semi-finals? Read the next blog to find out!