Hamburg Ambassador Maximilian Wilm: sommeliers should be entertainers on one side, educators on the other
Best Sommelier of Germany Maximilian Wilm has reported for Star Wine List from his Hamburg home for the past two years. As he adds five Red Stars to our city guide, he talks to us about boring wine lists, the no-alcohol trend, and how sommeliers should interact with their guests.
Born and raised in Bavaria, Maximilian Wilm moved to Hamburg, northern Germany, in 2013 and became Star Wine List’s ambassador for his adopted home 10 years later. An experienced sommelier and seasoned competitor, he will this year be judging the Best Sommelier of Germany competition, a title he won in 2019 before going on to represent his country in both European and global ASI contests, in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
“The Hamburg wine scene is, on the one side, quite conservative,” he tells us. “So we are an old city with a lot of old money – the people often stay with the things they know. But we also have a young generation of wine drinkers who are open-minded, want to discover new things.”
The natural wine scene is, he says, not as big as places like Berlin (though there are some places “where you can get really good natural wine”) and, for the most part, “I would say Hamburg is always a little bit more conservative than other cities in Germany.”
Despite this, Maximilian has noticed the non-alcoholic trend taking off of late, and “not only wine, but beverages – this is really increasing a lot and also at the requests of the customers.”
Another craze?
“What is really a thing at the moment, in my opinion, is German sparkling wine. We have a lot of young producers developing very good qualities of sparkling wine, really close to Champagne – sometimes even better! And the customers request it.”
The main difficulty, he explains, is the need to raise the number of “good wine lists” across Hamburg – a problem he discussed with us last year, too. “This is still a big issue. We have a lot of wine lists which are dominated by big brands, boring industrial wines, and there's only a few restaurants really focusing on individual producers and high-quality wines. For a big city with nearly two million people living [in it], it's still a very boring wine theme.”
Unless you know where to go, that is. So let Maximilian guide you towards the best wine spots in town…
Maximilian’s new Red Stars
Gallo Nero
Koer Kulinarik & Bar
La Maison d’Avignon
Oechsle Restaurant & Weinbar
THE LISBETH
What, to you, makes a good wine list?
“A good wine list for me is the balance between iconic producers, hidden treasures, and sommelier wines. But also for me, it's important that not only young wines are on a wine list; that you have the opportunity to get some older bottles or maybe some verticals of some good wines like German Rieslings — a few different vintages from one producer or one vineyard.
“And a good wine list doesn't have to be big. For me, a good wine list can be 80 or 100 labels if they are well selected, and if you can see an idea of the sommelier taking care of this wine list.”
How can a wine bar or restaurant impress you?
“When they are consistent in their quality policy: often you find good wines, but then you get a shitty beer or some bad coffee, some uninspired spirit. So, you have to run a whole beverage program to be a good wine bar or restaurant. And also take care of the wine service: often, you have a good wine list but the service, the glasses, are really bad. Everything belongs together for me.
“And the sommeliers, they should be entertainer on the one side, educator on the other side, but you should never force your guests into uncomfortable situations or let them know that you know more about wine than they do.”
What should visitors to Hamburg put on their list of things to do this summer?
“Grab a good bottle of wine, go to the beach of the Elbe river, and enjoy the sun down there with a beautiful bottle of wine – that would be nice.
Since last year we have a new tourist attraction. It’s an old bunker from the Second World War, on St. Pauli, which was planted with trees and flowers, where you can go on top and have a beautiful view over the city and a sundowner – that’s very nice.
“And then just going out with your friends and enjoying good wine – that's a good thing.”
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