2022 Weingut Friedrich Becker Family Pinot Gris, Pfalz, Germany

Winemaker Notes The Becker family has been winegrowing for seven generations in a small corner of Germany, where the Pfalz, Alsace, the Palatinate Forest and the Northern Voges Mountains meet—just 500 meters away from the French border. Friedrich Fritz Becker Senior was responsible for shifting the estate’s focus from selling grapes to the local co-op to making his own wines. When he bottled his first Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) he was not particularly well received by his neighbors. Instead of giving up, he was reminded of Aesop’s fable of “The Fox and the Grapes,” which involves a fox trying to eat grapes from a vine that he could not reach. Rather than admitting defeat, the fox stated that the grapes were sour, and that he never really wanted them in the first place. The image of the fox is featured on the Becker Family wine labels, ever since their first commercial release in 1973. In 2005 Fritz Jr. took over the winemaking at the estate, though his father continued to oversee th