For a burgeoning collection of articles and tasting notes on this very exciting vintage, see our guide to Germany 2012.
Last weekend the VDP Weinbörse in Mainz provided the first comprehensive opportunity to assess the wines of the 2012 vintage. The only wines not available for tasting at this stage are the Grosse Gewächse (the top dry wines) and the super-sweet Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen.
Since more than 1,000 wines were on show, a tasting strategy was needed. Bearing in mind Purple Pagers' predilections, I decided to focus on Riesling in the first instance. After that came the tricky business...