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 Pawel Hener is the 18th generation family member who is the Managing Director of the organically certified wine estate in the village of Walsheim, near Landau, in the south western part of Pfalz. He is running the organic certified Weingut Heinz Pfaffmann with his father Gustav and was visiting Gurgaon to present last night at a wine dinner three of the labels being imported by Flipsydee.
Delhi girl Kanupriya Anand Hener who is married to Pawel Hener, met him when he was studying for his MBA in Boston. She was a beer drinker who did not drink wine but became an avid fan of German Rieslings after she got married to him. I met the two of them at Pullman Aerocity for a private tasting of three wines- Riesling, Gewürztraminer and a Pinot Noir.
With a production capacity of 1.5 million liter wine per year, half of which is sold as organic bulk wine, Winery Heinz Pfaffmann is the biggest Certified Organic Winery with Bioland Certificate in the whole of Europe, according to Pawel Hener. ‘Since we grow 35 grapes, it is not practical for the family to produce and market wines from all these grapes and we find it financially prudent to sell off half the production. We also sell grapes to some of the well-known producers of our area,’ he says.
Pawel is neither a winemaker nor a family member who grew up in the winery learning the process to become the natural successor to his father Gustav Pfaffmann. After completing his Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering, he further pursued a Masters in the same field and worked in consulting and Air Navigation Services in Berlin and in Frankfurt while his brother helped their father, Gustav Pfaffmann. In 2011, the brother decided to move out of the wine business and he was obliged to join the father.
Successfully persuading his father to transform the winery into 100% organic, his major task was to facilitate smooth coordination to achieve organic certification. Initially assisting him with all technical, operational and administrative glitches, Pawel has now also taken up the responsibility to aggressively market the wines and hence the visit.
When I told him that I had been judging for the last 10 years consecutively at Mundusvini in Neustadt, barely 20 kms from Landau, he said that he had entered 12 of his wines for the first time at the competition in the previous Spring edition (there are two editions-spring and autumn now-so far I have been going to the autumn edition only). 9 wines had won Gold and Silver Medals with the Riesling Eiswein (Icewine) 2012 bagging the Great Gold. Not bad for a relatively small winery with 150 hA of vines and about 1.5 million Liter of production (somewhere between Grover Zampa and Fratelli Vineyards in India).
 The wines retail for Rs. 2400-2450 each in Maharashtra and Gurgaon and several prestigious hotels like St. Regis in Mumbai, Conrad Pune and Oberoi Gurgaon list the wines which have the distinction and USP of being totally organic and thus more healthy, a factor now keenly appreciated by the Indian consumer as well. As Shailender Sandha of Flipsydee confirms, they had listed in Delhi too last year but this year, due to the delay in policy with barely 5 months left, they have decided not to sell in the Delhi market. In fact, a purchase order is lying pending from Pullman which would have to wait for the next fiscal year to be executed.
Tasting the wines
Riesling Trocken (Dry) With around 7 gms/lt sugar, the light golden colour, medium bodied wine has pleasant citrus aromas and crisp, lively acidity accompanying the fruity flavours that makes it easy to drink. Fairly long end. Lovely with fish and many vegetarian meals-even when slightly spicy. Rating 89/100
Gewürztraminer Feinfruchtig 2014 As the name suggests, it is a fruity wine with shades of honey. Very aromatic, the golden coloured, fuller bodied wine is slightly low on acidity though well-balanced otherwise. The wine at around 40 gms/ lt acidity was a bit too sweet for me but it would pair well with hot spicy Indian food, by countering the fire in the chilli spices. Otherwise, it needs desserts like gulab jamun or pineapple pastries to pair with. Rating 87/100
Pinot Noir Trocken With a colour less deep than the Burgundy wines this light-to medium bodied wine had a good balance and nice fruit but despite decanting for about 15 minutes, it was still slightly closed. With plenty of strawberry fruit and ripe tannins, the wine was otherwise very pleasant. Rating 89/100
The 4th label that is being imported but not sold in Gurgaon is Riesling Spätlese. With the repeat orders pouring in and Flipsydee placing the 3rd order on the principals, it appears that the wines are finding very good acceptance in the market and are well worth trying for German wine fans.
Subhash Arora |