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WSET 3 - Geoff > C22 - Germany (reviewed) > Flashcards

C22 - Germany (reviewed) Flashcards

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1
Q

Discuss climate of Germany’s vineyard areas

A
  • Cool continental (with the associated viticultural challenges)
  • Wet summers with rain declining in autumn
  • Noticeably warmer in Baden in the far south
  • The long, cool ripening period allows grapes to reach sugar ripeness while retaining acidity
  • Great variance from year to year due to high variations in annual water conditions
  • Implication: Small differences in vineyards can have a large impact on the wines produced​ - best sites: steep, often stony slopes, southerly aspect
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2
Q

Describe grape-growing practices in Germany

A

Worked on by hand

In steepest parts, equipment is manoeuvred into place by winches

Vines are head-pruned, individually staked with canes tied in at the top of the stakes to maximise grape exposure to light and air circulation

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3
Q

What might the benefit be to a vine’s proximity to rivers in Germany?

A
  • Reflected sunlight can help grapes to ripen
  • Air movement caused by flowing water can help to protect against frosts
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4
Q

By which oenological characteristic are grapes classified in Germany? What effect does this have on the growing season and harvest?

A

By must weight (level of sugar in grape juice)

Harvest can be spread out over weeks and months

It is possible to make a range of Qualitätsweine and Prädikatsweine each year from an individual vineyard

Pickers will pass several times to get the ideal grapes for each category of wine - or they may be sorted and categorised after each picking

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5
Q

What is the style trend in Germany? What has dictated this?

A

For dry wines

The demands of the local market

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6
Q

How may the red and white wines (of varying quality) of Germany be sold?

A

As Qualitätsweine

They arelargely the preserve of white wines

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7
Q

In terms of vineyard plantings and quality, what is the most important wine grape of Germany?

A

Riesling

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8
Q

Which grape must be used for Prädikatsweine?

A

There are several options

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9
Q

What is the style of Riesling wines in Germany?

A

It varies due to differences in soil and climate

  • From delicate and floral ►richer peachy fruit character
  • Bone dry ► lusciously sweet
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10
Q

How can dry styles of Riesling in Germany often labelled?

A
  • Qualitätsweine
  • Very best dry Rieslings labelled Grosses Gewächs (GG)
  • Can be made in dry style up to Auslese category
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11
Q

Discuss Prädikatsweine

A

Most of them will have some residual sugar

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12
Q

Up to which category is possible to make a wine in a dry style?

A

Auslese

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13
Q

What is the key to understanding Prädikatsweine?

A

To think of them as an indicator of style

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14
Q

Discuss Kabinett

A
  • Most delicate of the Prädikatsweine styles

Style

  • Light in body, high acidity
  • Green apple / citrus fruit, balanced with residual sweetness
  • Sweet styles will have an alcohol level of 8-9% abv
  • Drier styles can reach 12% abv

Can made sweet by stopping fermentation early (better quality wines bc better sugar/acid balance) or by adding sugar after fermentation (Süssreserve)

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15
Q

Describe Spätlese wines

A

Made in the same way as Kabinett wines,

  • more concentrated, riper and with a little more body, alcohol and sometimes sweetness
  • Citrus and stone fruit aromas (peach or apricot)
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16
Q

Describe Auslese wines

A
  • Made from individually selected extra-ripe bunches
  • Richer and riper than Spätlese wines
  • Noble rot can be involved
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17
Q

Describe Beerenauslese (BA) and Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) wines

A

Some of the best sweet wines in the world

Flavours of honey, dried stone fruit, candied peel and flowers

Noble rot

  • Essential for TBA to achieve required must weights
  • Not essential for BA, but noble rot still typical

Some sites more suitable than others, but these styles not necessarily produced every year

Volumes vary considerably when produced Sweet and low in alcohol

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18
Q

Describe Eiswein

A
  • Genuinely rare and made infrequently
  • Very sweet
  • Flabour focus: Pure varietal fruit flavours
  • Best examples achieve acidity - sweetness balance
  • Carefully selected yeast, handling juice with care and avoiding MLF, new oak and other processes which can mask the flavours of the grape
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19
Q

Discuss Müller-Thurgau

A
  • Also called Rivaner
  • Second most widely planted white grape variety
  • Crossing between Riesling and Madeleine Royale
  • Compared to Rieslings - ripens earlier, but does not have the same level of acidity or intensity of flavour
  • Attractive floral and fruity flavours
  • Rarely high quality
  • On a steep decline - market for inexpensive medium-dry/medium-sweet Qualitätsweine has declined
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20
Q

Discuss Silvaner

A
  • Third most widely planted white grape variety
  • Particularly Rheinhessen and Franken
  • Made into dry and sweet styles, can be high quality on the right sites
  • Less acidic and less overly fruity than Riesling
  • Sometimes have an earthy quality
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21
Q

Name the ‘other’ white varieties which are growing in importance in Germany

A
  • Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris)
  • Weißburgunder (Pinot Blanc)

Often labelled using the French or Italian name

Made in Dry styles

22
Q

Discuss Pinot Noir in Germany

A
  • Spätburgunder
  • Third most planted grape variety in Germany
  • ]Planted on the warmer sites -
  • Mostly planted in Pfalz and Baden
  • Style: dry, either relatively light and fruity or in a more concentrated style with oak aromas
23
Q

Which is the second most widely planted black variety in Germany? Discuss

A

Dornfelder

They are very deeply coloured

24
Q

List popular black grape varieties in Germany (besides Pinot Noir and Dornfelder)

What style do they usually produce?

A
  • Portugieser
  • Trollinger
  • Scwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier)
  • Usually light-bodied and fruity wines, though some intensely coloured and flavoured examples with oak character do exist
25
Q

How are Germany’s less popular red wines marketed?

A

As Qualitätsweine and consumed by the domestic market

26
Q

What are the key wine regions of Germany

A
  • Mosel
  • Nahe
  • Rheingau
  • Rheinhessen (south of Rheingau)
  • Pfalz (south)
  • Baden (far south)
  • Franken (east)
27
Q

Discuss Mosel region

A
  • Between where it joins the Rhine and the German border and its two small tributaries; the Saar and the Ruwer
  • White grapes Mostly Riesling
  • Riesling only permitted grape for Grosses Gewächs wines
  • Middle Mosel - concentration of production in centre of the region
    • Key villages: Piesport, Bernkastel, Wehlen
  • Best site: Very steep slopes Slate soils Right next to the river
  • Lighter in body, lower in alcohol and higher in acidity than those of Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Pfalz
    • Floral and green fruit flavours
28
Q

Discuss Saar and Ruwer areas of Mosel

A
  • Cooler sites
  • Only a tiny percentage of the overall plantings
  • Comparable in style and quality to the middle mosel, with even more acidity
  • Grapes may not ripen in even the best sites ⇒ may be used for sparkling wine
29
Q

Discuss Nahe region

A

Between Mosel and Rheinhessen

Best sites: on steep, south-facing slopes on the banks of the river Nahe, between the villages of Schlossböckelheim and Bad Kreuznach

Best known for Riesleings, most planted grape variety

  • Somewhere between that of Mosel and the fuller-bodied style of Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Pfalz
  • Pronounced acidity of Mosel
  • Riper fruit character than that of Mosel due to warmer character

Grosses-Gewächs: Riesling only

30
Q

Discuss Rheingau

A

Small but prestigious region, locate North of Rheinhessen, east of Mosel

Best Vineyards: southerly aspect, located on slopes of the rivers:

  • North bank of the River Rhine (in the west of the region) and the River Main (in the south and east)
  • Southerly facing slopes plus protection from winds by Taunus Hills provide ideal conditions

Most vineyards are located on the slopes to the west region near Johannisberg and Rudesheim

  • Riesling dominates: majority made in dry style, medium to full-body & distinctive ripe peach character
  • Some of the best BA and TBA wines due to high humidity
  • Spätburgunder - To the west of Rüdesheim in the village of Assmannhausen

On East side - Concentration of vinyards around Hochheim - can be riper and fuller bodied due to a slightly warmer climate

Grosses Gewächs: Riesling, Spätburgunder

31
Q

Discuss Rheinhessen

A

Largest wine region in Germany

Very broad range of varieties planted

  • Mostly planted White: Müller-Thurgau and Riesling
  • Red: Dornfelder, Portugieser, Spätburgunder - 30% of plantings

Best site: steeply terraced vineyards on the west bank of the Rhine, centred around the village of Nierstein called Rheinterrasse

  • Rheinterrasse know for some the fullest bodied Rieslings in Germany

Grosses Gewächs: Riesling, Spätburgunder

Reputation for innovation and excellence: in less known areas (e.g, near Worms), top-quality wines have begun to be produced ⇒ new winemaking movement

32
Q

Discuss Pfalz

A

Second largest wine producing area of Germany

Continuation of the vineyards of Alsace

Narrow 80km strip from the east of the Haardt mountains (continuation of Vosges)

Climate: driest of the German regions, potential water stress

Grapes:

  • White: Riesling (most planted), Müller-Thurgau, increasingly Grauburgunder, Weißburgunder
  • Black grapes:
    • Just under 40% of plantings,
    • Dornfelder (2nd most planted), Portugieser (local market), Spätburgunder

Longest reputation for high quality winemaking

GG: Riesling, Weißburgunder, Spätburgunder

Most established vineyards around: Forst and Deidesheim (refered to as Mittelhaardt) - steep slopes to the west

33
Q

What is the style of wines produced in Mittelhaardt?

A

Ripe and fuller-bodied

34
Q

Besides Rheinhessen, where else in Germany are new and young producers making top-quality wines?

A

Pfalz

35
Q

What style are the wines of Pfalz being made into?

A

Drier styles

36
Q

Discuss Baden

A
  • Warmest/most southerly region
  • Fullest-bodied wines with highest alcohols
  • Largest region overall, only 3rd largest in Germany in term plantings
  • Vineyards are spaced out over a narrow strip of land that follows the Rhine
  • Kaiserstuhl and Tuniberg (opposite Colmar in Alsace) concentrate about 1/3rd of vienayards
  • Best vineyards: south facing slope of Kaiserstuhl (an extinct volcano)
  • Grossess Gewachs: allowed a range of red and white used
  • Grapes:
    • Spätburgunder - most planted (best reputation: Kaiserstuhl)
    • Müller-Thurgau, Grauburgunder, Weißburgunder, Riesling
37
Q

Discuss Franken

A
  • Riesling is neither most widely planted, nor is it considered to be prestigious
  • Top wine grape of Franken: Silvaner
    • Early flowering and ripening ⇒ susceptible to frost damage ⇒ planted in the warmest sites ⇒ can reach a level of ripeness rarely achieved elsewhere in Germany
  • Best wine located on the south-facing slopes around Würzburg
  • Style: Dry, with a richness on the palate With an earthy quality
  • Bottled in distinctive flask-shaped bottles
  • Grosses Gewachs: Silvaner, Riesling, Weißburgunder, Grauburgunder, Spätburgunder
38
Q

How are some German PGI wines labelled?

A

Landwein

If no GI label: Deutscher Wein

39
Q

How many delimited regions are there for German PDO wines?

A

13

40
Q

What is the big difference between Germany’s delimited regional PDO system and France’s?

A

Germany’s is not linked to specific grape varieties

41
Q

How are German wines typically labelled?

A

Varietally and classified by minimum must weight at harvest

42
Q

What are the two fundamental levels in the German classification system?

A

Qualitätswein

Prädikatswein

43
Q

How is the Prädikatswein level divided?

A

Into six Prädikat levels

44
Q

All PDO wines in Germany must come from…

A

Only one region

45
Q

What must appear on a German PDO label?

A
  • The name of the region
  • For Prädikatsweine, the Prädikat level
  • Varietal labelling is common
46
Q

Other than Prädikat levels, how may different levels of wines be labelled?

A
  • Dry= Trocken
  • Off-dry/medium= Halbtrocken
  • Feinherb => Some producers believe ‘Halbtrocken’ has an association with lower quality wines
    • No legal definition
47
Q

Other than written indications, how else may sugar levels be deduced for a German wine?

A

From the wine category or alcohol level

48
Q

When stated on German labels, how is vineyard location expressed?

A

Village name followed by vineyard name

49
Q

How from the location name, may one deduce whether a German wine is from a single vineyard or multiple?

A

It is not possible from location labelling, but price is a good indicator

50
Q

List in order, German categories by minimum must weight, from lowest to highest, including what style they can be made into

A

Qualitätswein - dry to medium sweet

Prädikatswein (from lowest to highest sugar level)

  • Kabinett - dry to medium sweet
  • Spätlese- dry to medium sweet
  • Auslese - dry to sweet
  • Beerenauslese - sweet only
  • Eiswein - sweet only
  • Trockenbeerenauslese - sweet onl
51
Q

How may quality be indicated on a German label?

A

There is no legally defined labelling term indicating quality

52
Q

Discuss how a organisation has attempted to address the issue of labelling quality indications

A
  • Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP)
  • A group of producers who have classified the vast majority of the best vineyard sites in Germany
  • Grosses Gewächs can be used for ddry Qualitätsweine from the best vineyard sites
    • ‘GG’ and a bunch of grapes embossed on the neck of the bottle will appear
    • not a part of German law

WSET 3 - Geoff (45 decks)

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