Few have done more to champion German wines in the U.S. than Rudi Wiest, who passed away March 9 in Henderson, Nev. He was 88. Rudi Wiest Selections, the import business he founded in 1978, offered one of the most influential German wine portfolios in the industry, including iconic estates J.J. Prüm, Karthäuserhof and Egon Müller. His focus was exclusively on Germany at a time when most Americans didn’t know much about German wines or held negative perceptions about their quality.
“Rudi helped make the reputations of many of the German winemakers we consider the benchmarks,” said Evan Spingarn, German portfolio manager at Bowler Wines, who worked with Wiest for 14 years and became a close friend. “Anyone who loves German wines and buys or sells them today owes an enormous debt to Rudi.”
Born in 1936 in Illertissen, a town in Bavaria, Wiest studied mathematics and engineering. He moved to the U.S. with his family as a teenager in 1952. After school, he served in the U.S. Air Force and became a citizen. When a job brought Wiest and his wife, Erna, to San Francisco in the 1970s, he discovered his interest in wine, began building his own impressive personal wine cellar and then founded his business, determined to showcase the potential of premium German wine.
“Selling German wine was an uphill battle for decades, but it was a labor of love for Rudi,” said Harmon Skurnik, president of Skurnik Wines & Spirits, a wine importer and distributor who began selling Wiest’s wines in New York in the early 1990s. “He worked so hard to convince customers that these wines deserved more respect from the wine world.”
For many in the industry, Wiest was their introduction to German wines—particularly Riesling. “Rudi imported a superb portfolio of top-notch German wineries, introducing many American wine lovers to the beauty of Riesling,” said Wine Spectator senior editor Bruce Sanderson, who covered the wines of Germany from 1998 through 2010 and developed a deep friendship with Wiest. “But he was not only passionate about German wine—he loved art and especially jazz. Often when he was in New York, we would see some great players at The Village Vanguard or Jazz Standard.”
Wiest closed his import company in 2019 after four decades. His protégé, Jenna Fields, launched The German Wine Collection (GWC) with the goal of keeping these top German wine estates under one portfolio and to continue Wiest’s legacy.
“No one has had more of an impact on the German wine industry than Rudi,” said Fields. “I was fortunate to call Rudi my greatest mentor and toughest critic. He taught me everything I know about German wine and what it means to live a life of passion and authenticity.”
Wiest is survived by his son, Brent, and grandchildren, Josef and Audrey.
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