Germany Flashcards
Germay is the world’s largest _____ of wine.
importer
What are the two most important rivers in Germany?
1) The Rhine 2) The Mosel
Besides the Rhine and Mosel, what are four other significant rivers in Germany?
Ahr, Nahe, Main, and Neckar
What is the climate in Germany?
Continental: mild summers, cold winters, and moderate precipitation year-round
Hillside vineyards in Germany have an advantage when they are facing which direction?
South; this maximizes both sun exposure and warmth
What are states called in German?
Lander
What is the most widely planted grape in Germany?
Riesling, which takes up more than a fifth of the vineyard acreage.
What is the second most common grape in Germany?
Muller-Thurgau - a Riesling cross which was developed for hardiness but does not have the same taste or longevity as Riesling.
What are the German names for Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Blanc?
Pinot Noir = Spatburgunder
Pinot Gris = Grauburgunder
Pinot Blanc = Weissburgunder
What two whites are indigenous to Germany?
Silvaner and Kerner
Which two reds are indigenous to Germany?
Dornfelder and Portugieser
What is the most planted red grape in Germany?
Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir)
What is Grauburgunder also known as?
Rulander (Pinot Gris)
How many specified winegrowing regions are there in Germany? What are these called?
13 Anaugebiete
What are the 13 Anaugebiete from north to south?
Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen, Ahr, Mittel-Rhein, Mosel, Rheingau, Nahe, Rheinhessen, Franken, Hessiche Bergstrasse, Pfalz, Wurttemberg, Baden
How much of Germany’s wine qualifies as “Qualitatswein”?
96%
Which two levels of wine in Germany account for only 4% of production?
Tafelwein - table wine.
Landwein - country wine (wines with a geographical indication)
Define Deutscher Tafelwein.
A tafelwine made exclusively with German grown grapes.
Define Qualitatswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete.
Quality wine from a designated region (QbA)
What are the subcategories of Pradikatswein (in ascending order of grape ripeness)?
Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein, Trockenbeerenauslese
What does Pradikatswein mean?
Quality wine with attributes.
Define the six subcategories of Pradikatswein.
Cabinett (the most basic), Late Harvest (spatlese), Selected Harvest (Auslese), Selected Berries (Beerenauslese BA), Ice Wine (Eiswein), Selected dried berries (Trockenbeerenauslese TBA)
What is the Oechsle scale based on? What is it meant to determine?
It is based on the density of the grape must and is a way to measure the amount of sugar present in grapes. The more solids - primarily sugar- the denser the liquid will be.
Define bereiche, grosslagen, and einzellagen.
A bereich is a regional or district appellatoin (like AC Cotes du Rhone or DO Catalunya or a county in the US), a grosslagen is a grouping of numerous vineyards into a convenient package. There was no real effort to take terroir into account. An einzellagen is a single vineyard (the logic in dividing appears more administrative than viticultural).
When a wine is designated Erzeugerabfullung or Gutsabfullung, what does this mean?
Estate bottled
What does the term Abfuller indicate about a wine?
It means that a wine has been produced at a commercial winery that buys grapes from other sources.
Define sussreserve.
Unfermented grape juice. Sometimes added to a wine to make sweet.
When is chapitalization allowed in German wine?
Wines up to QbA maybe chapitalized. Any wine at the pradikatswein level will have sufficient potential alcohol to produce stable wine (even if the fermentation is stopped early) and chapitalization is not allowed.
Define trocken, halbtrocken, and suss.
trocken = dry halbtrocken = off-dry suss = sweet
Define classic, selection, and charta.
These are all terms that indicate a dry wine.
classic = made from grapes with a potential alcohol level one degree higher than the minimum for that variety and region (yielding a dry wine of at least 12%)
selection = a dry wine made from auslese-level grapes from an einzellage
charta = dry to off dry QbA or pradikat level Riesling from the Rheingau
What can you expect if a German wine has no indication of its sweetness level?
It can usually be expected that wine will be sweet.
What German classification system uses Burgundy’s system as a model?
The Associatoin of German Pradikat Wine Estates (Verband Deutscher Pradikatsweinguter, VDP)
What is Erste Lage meant to refer to?
“Grand Cru” in the German VDP Classification system. Is also known as Grosses Gewachs and Erste Gewachs in different regions.
What are lower tiers in the German VDP system referred to as?
Klassifizierte Lagenweine (classified site wines) and Gutsweine (estate wines)
Define Weissherbst.
Rose
What are two words used to define sparkling wine in German?
Sekt and Schaumwein
What method is most used in making German sekt and is it dry or sweet?
Most sekt is made by tank method and finished in a sweet or semisweet style rather than brut.
What grape variety takes up about 60% of the vineyard land in Mosel?
Riesling
What is the one and only bereich in the Rheingau anbaugebiet?
Johannisberg
What is the most widely planted grape variety in Baden?
Spatburgunder
What type of wine is Franken known for and what is it typically sold in?
Everyday white wines and sold in a flask called a Bocksbeutel.
Which anbaugebiet is closest to Alsace?
Pfalz
Which is the largest of Germany’s winegrowing regions; both in area under vine and overall production?
Rheinhessen
Which two grapes dominate most of Rheinhessen’s vineyards?
Muller-Thurgau and Dornfelder
What are the only two anbaugebiete that produce more red wine than white?
Wuttemberg and Ahr
What are the two small anbaugebietes located in east Germany?
Saale-Unstrut and Sachsen
Define Liebfraumilch.
A moderately sweet, light white wine made mostly from Qba level Muller-Thurgau, Silvaner, and Kerner. It was popular in the 1970s but left consumers with the impression that all German wines were simple and sweet (a reputation the German wine industry has had difficulty overcoming).
