The wine list at the First Floor Restaurant at the Hotel Palace Berlin begins with a tour of German wine culture, with stops in every region, and taking in many rare mature vintages.
As the judges of the World’s Best Wine Lists 2015 put it, the selection of German wines is “excellent,” and runs from the delicate Rieslings of the Mosel’s Joh Jos Prüm to the refined Pinot Noir of the Ahr’s Meyer-Näkel; from the mineral Sylvaner and Riesling of Franken’s Rudolf Fürst to the terroir-reflective Rieslings of the Rheingau’s Josef Leitz.
But the 1,500-plus bin offer does not only play homage to the best of the domestic scene. Among the many highlights of its collection are “an extraordinary range of vintages” of, among others, the Bordeaux first growths, Burgundy, Piedmont, and Tuscany; inspired choices from South Africa, Portugal, and Spain; unusual American wines from Missouri and Michigan as well as flights of top Californians such as Opus One; and plenty of quirky interest from emerging countries such as Israel and Canada. A truly global and, importantly, well-priced list, then, to match the French-inspired Michelin-starred cooking of chef Matthias Diether.