Liebfraumilch, quintessentially mild, slightly sweet white wine from germany’s rheinhessen, pfalz, nahe, or (rarely) rheingau regions known almost exclusively in export markets where it weaned many a potential wine drinker off soft drinks but is now in steep decline. In its heyday in the 1980s, it accounted for an extraordinary, some would say horrifying, 60% of all German wine exported. These wines were generally dominated by silvaner, müller-thurgau, or kerner grapes, but the Liebfrauenstift-Kirchstück (Our Lady’s Cloister) in Worms from which the name Liebfraumilch was derived continues to be a source of good Riesling.
