Germany

OUR GERMAN WINES

There are eleven main quality production regions in Germany known as Anbaugebieten:

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
Ahr
Nahe
Rheingau
Rheinhessen
Baden
Franken
Hessiche Bergstrasse
Wurttemburg
Mittelrhein
Pfalz

These regions are grouped around the Rhine and its major tributaries, which include the Mosel and the Nahe. The list excludes the East German regions of Sachsen and Saale-Unstrut.

GERMAN WINE CLASSIFICATION
In a climate where degrees of ripeness play a great part, even in the best vineyards, it was necessary to evolve a system of quality grading dependent on grape ripeness rather than on the reputation of a particular estate, although the quality of the vineyard and its winemaker are still hugely important. This contrasts with the other European countries, where vineyards with an established reputation are given the same quality status each year irrespective of climatic variation. The wines produced within Germany are classified into two categories, table wine and quality wine and each category has two subdivisions.

Table Wine
Deutscher Tafelwein
Deutscher Tafelwein describes a simple wine that has been made from grapes gown in Germany. It is important to note that the description Tafelwein on its own indicates that a wine is blended with other wines imported from the European Community. These wines, although often made in Germany, are not German wines as such.

Deutscher Landwein
This classification is similar to French vins de pays. It is a category of tafelwein, a regional wine made from grapes which are a little riper at harvest time allowing greater potential alcohol. It is made drier than the average German wine and will be labelled Trocken - Dry, or Halbtrocken - Medium Dry.

Quality Wine
German quality wines are known as Qualitätswein and are divided into two categories:

Qualitätswein bestimmte Anbaugebiete QbA
Qualitätswein bestimmte Anbaugebiete means Quality wine from a designated region and on a label will probably be abbreviated to QbA, or perhaps simply state Qualitätswein. QbA wines come from one of the eleven designated regions or Anbaugebieten and the region of origin must be clearly shown on the label.

Anbaugebieten are divided and subdivided as follows:

Bereiche
Each Anbaugebiete is divided into districts, which are called Bereiche. A wine may be named after one of these such as Bereich Bernkastel in the Mosel and Bereich Johannisburg in the Rheingau.

Grosslagen
Each Bereich is itself subdivided into Grosslagen which are groups of vineyards producing wine of similar character and style. Well known examples are Piesporter Michelsberg and Niersteiner Gutes Domtal.

Einzenlagen
The smallest subdivision is the Einzenlage or individual vineyard of which a famous example is the Bernkasteler Docktor. There are literally thousands of Einzenlagen across the regions, each of which attaches itself to the village name. So we have Heppenheimer Centgericht as an example from the Hessiche Bergstrasse and Oppenheimer Sacktrager from the Rheinhessen. One of the problems is that it is not possible to distinguish between a Grosslage or an Einzenlage name on the label without specialised knowledge. A particularly confusing example is that of Rudesheimer Rosengarten, which is both a large Grosslage in the Nahe, and a tiny Einzenlage in the Rheingau. This is hardly helpful to the prospective customer.

Quatitätswein mit Prädikat QmP
The wines designated as QmP are QbA wines with extra attributes, mainly associated with ripeness These wines may not be chaptalised.

There are six quality levels in the QmP heirarchy:

Kabinett
Made from grapes harvested at the normal time but with higher natural grape sugar. These are the lightest, driest and most delicate of the QmP wines.

Spätlese
Made from grapes which are late-harvested and therefore riper and with higher natural sugar. They produce wine of a more intense, concentrated style.

Auslese
Made from individually selected, extra ripe bunches of late-harvested grapes. Auslese has even more intense concentration and sweetness but still maintains a fine backbone of acidity.

Beerenauslese
Made from individually selected, overripe, late-harvested grapes normally afected by Noble Rot. These wines have both fine acidity and considerable residual sweetness.

Trockenbeerenauslese
Made from individually selected grapes with an advanced level of Noble Rot so that they have shrivelled like raisins and produce a luscious liqueur wine of intense richness and flavour.

Eiswein
Is an indication of a process rather than of ripeness. Eiswein is made from grapes which have been picked and crushed whilst still frozen. This normally occurs in very cold conditions usually in the January following the year of the vintage. A sugar content of Beerenauslese level is now required for Eiswein.

Germany - www.winedine.co.uk