Yes, for those of you who are familiar with German TV, that is Thomas Gottschalk sitting next to me. I should have posted this photo of our meeting in the great Berlin wine bar ‘Weinstein’ right after it happened, but I misplaced the photo in a fit of forgetfulness. Last night I walked into the great Berlin Chinese restaurant ‘Hot Spot’ and there was Joschka Fischer (sorry no photo this time), the ex-foreign minister of Germany. Not only did he do a great job then, he’s also a real expert on German and many other wines. He had something important to say to me too. He must be one of very few people who read my recent Riesling book BEST WHITE WINE ONE EARTH (English language edition by Stewart, Tabori & Chang) and PLANET RIESLING (German language edition by Tre Torri Verlag) in both languages. “Mr. Pigott, I much prefer the English language edition,” he said, “the design is much better.” This reminded me to hunt for the lost Thomas Gottschalk picture and, miraculously, I almost immediately found it. It doesn’t look so bad either. By the way, Gottschalk was impressed by the house dry Riesling at ‘Weinstein’, called ‘Schlank im Shrank”, Lean in the Closet, which is produced by the Karlsmühle estate on the Ruwer.
Finding the above photo reminded me that Gottschalk is good friends with Germany’s current number one TV anchor, Günther Jauch, the owner of the von Othegraven estate on the Saar, and one of the region’s top Riesling producers (for dry and sweet wines). A couple of years back the WEINWUNDER DEUTSCHLAND, Wine Wonder Germany, TV team and I shot an interview with Günther Jauch at von Othegraven during which the photo above was taken. From left to right are Jauch’s wife Thea Sihler, Günther Jauch, von Othegraven’s winemaker Andreas Barth (also of the Lubenitushof estate in the Terrassenmosel) and myself. Now this might all seem like showing off, but what these photos say to me is that on a good night I’m an passable foil for these real stars; at best I’m almost famous.
