Germany Flashcards
quick history recap of german wines
- famous for quality since middle ages, expansion during 16th century thanks to river rhine (famous european waterway)
- decline for the 30 years war, land used for grain for bread and beer
- new wines laws from 1830, then unity of the country in 1871, then building of institutes like Gelsenheim university
- philloxera, mildew, WWI and II
- restructuring and modern laws in 1971
famous ancient estates in rheingau
schloss johannisberg
kloster eberbach
1980s germany was famous for what style and % of export
bulk cheap muller thurgau and kerner
60% total export
what is Liebfraumilch and famous brands
muller thurgau and kernel, high yields of ripe grapes for inexpensive medium sweet wines
famous in 1980s
black tower, blue nun most famous brands
what is Flurbereinigung
after ww2 germany issued a program of restructuring vineyards creating acess roads and small fragmented vineyards to help working and reduce vicitultural costs (without it many vineyards would be abandoned)
what style dominates germany market
bulk wines
fine wine is growing
germany overall climate
cool continental
climatic influences of germany
- high latitude
- river rhine and its tributaries
- steep slopes
- mountains ranges (Taunus, Haardt)
latitude location of germany vineyards
49-50 some of the most northenly in the world
river rhine and tributaries effectd
radiate heat (moderate temperature and lenghten growing season)
mosel slopes can reach what gradients
70%
mountain ranges influences in germany
shelter from cold winds and heavy rains
general altitude in germany
below 200
main climatic problems in germany
- cold winters
- spring frost
- rainfall in summer (fungal diseases)
what helps fighting spring frost in germany
river rhine influence in mitigating the climate
average rainfall in germany
500/800mm (mostly in summer)
one german ambaugebite has a different climate. which one?
baden (closer to swiss border) drier, and warmer
main types of soils in germany
- dark slate (mosel)
- calcareous (baden, pfalz, rheinessen)
- heavy clay (franken)
advantages of dark slate in mosel
retains heat and releases it during nighttime
calcareous soils are helping producing what wine?
pinot noir
pinot blanc
chardonnay
heavy clay helps what varieties?
silvaner
grauburgunder (pinot gris)
main problem of slopes in germany
erosion needs costant winch (cost increase)
maximum yields for Deutscher Wein, Land Wein and Qualitatswein
Deutscher Wein 150hl/ha
Land Wein 150hl/ha
Qualitatswein 105hl/ha (VDP producers goes way lower)
incredibly high
average annual production in germany hL
9 million hl
what has helped germany grape growing?
- climate change
- vineyard management techniques
vineyard management development in germany examples
- clonal selection (improved fruit ripeness)
- canopy management (improve sun exposure and air circulation)
- summer pruning
- green harvesting
- hand harvesting
vine training in germany
vines were historically staked with cane at the top (labour intensive)
now :
1. double replacement cane with vsp trellissing
2. cane arched to trellis (improve sap circulation, increase number of viable buds and increase yields)
organic/biodynamic viticulture in germany
9% not particularly suited for the climate, only way to spray properly is via helicopter (goes into neighbouring vineyards)
general labour cost in handling vineyards (slopes vs flat land)
in both case high
slopes - terraces handling, mechanisation is not possible (except certan small caterpillar)
flat sites - higher compared to other countries, german laws on styles (e.g. beerenauslese) requires hand harvesting and many producers still decide to do so, only large scale producers for inexpensive machanise
do you need to state grape variety on german labels
no, but they often are by producer’s choice
what grapes are getting more plantings recently?
red varietals are rising up - spatburgunder and dornfelder
whites such as grauburgunder, weissburgunder, and chardonnay
also some international cab sauv, merlot, sauv blanc
riesling: main pro and con (budding ripening)
pro: late budding with thick wood (frost resistant)
cons: late ripening (needs lots of sun exposure and dry autumn)
why riesling plantings went down in the 70s?
late ripening needs a lot of sun many switched to german crosses that could ripen easily
why riesling came back up in plantings recently?
improved vineyard management and rising temperatures assures a more steady and constant ripening
riesling % plantings
23% of all germany
alternative name for muller thurgau in germany
rivaner
main features of muller thurgau
earlier ripening produces high yields
muller thurgau blends were called
liebfraumilch famous wine that made plantings of muller rise up in the 70/80s (was the most planted varietal)
muller thurgau style
medium acidity simple floral and fruity early drinking
spatburgunder general style in germany
better quality (canopy, clones, harvesting dates) whole bunch often use oak but less new
most planted black variety in germany?
spatburgunder then dornfelder
is dornfelder a german cross?
yes
dornfelder two main styles
- easy drinking, fruity (cherry, blackberry), little residual sugar
- complex, worth ageing, lower yields, deep colour, high acidity, fruity and floral with oak ageing
silvaner styles
- easy drinking, medium acidity, simple, inexpensive
- Franken - dry, medium body with medium + acidity, earthy character
plantings of silvaner
halved since 1980s now taken over by Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder especially in Pfalz, RHeinessen and Baden
grauburgunder favourite soils
heavy soils
grauburgunder style
medium acidity stone/tropical fruit medium to full body also sweeter styles
sweeter styles of grauburgunder are called
rulander
weissburgunder style
medium + acidity citrus/stone fruit aromas
when chardonnay was introduced in germany
1990, still low plantings
other grapes you can find in germany
portugieser
schwarzriesling (p meunier)
trollinger (schiava)
lemberger (blaufrankisch)
for simple inexpensive wines in Wurtenberg
some high quality from Lenberger
what are german crosses
varieties created by various german wine institutes to cope with cool climate
why we don’t know much about all the german crosses?
most examples had high sugar but really low acidity so they were just used for inexpensive blends (liebfraumilch)
best german crosses
- scheurebe - full body with intense aromas of grapefruit and peach, medium acidity but ageworthy wines
- kerner - high acidity, floral, fruity, can produce pratikat level of complexity
- dornfelder
why german crosses went out of fashion?
because technology allowed riesling to ripen better
winemaking in germany features
traditional vs experimental
- more traditional, less interventionist (ambient yeast, no filtration/fining)
- experimentations (lees/oak in grauburgunder and weissburgunder and extreme cases riesling)
is enrichment permitted
yes is a common practice but not permitted in pradikatswein
enrichment EU laws for germany
germany is EU Zone A up to 3% Baden is Zone B up to 2%
de acidification and acidification
all permitted in coldest and hottest year mainly used for high volume inexpensive wines
germany’s own type of oak
- Fuder - used in mosel 1000L
- Stuck - oval shaped 1200l used along the rhine historically used for fermenting and maturing (some premium riesling producers still uses this technique)
most common vessel used in germany and why
stainless steel (especially in inexpensive wines)
- temperature control
- easy cleaning
- no oxygen
- no flavour added - maintain primary aromas
is new oak used in germany?
rarely mostly for red wines, grauburgunder, weissburgunder and chardonnay
how does sugar gets in the final wine in germany? 3 options
- sussreserve
- rcgm
- naturally
sussreserve use in the 60/70s
heavily used as all wines were fermented dry and then sussreserve was used
was sussreserve used at pradikat levels in 60/70s?
yes
what is sussreserve
unfermented or partially fermented grape must must be produced from grapes of the same region and same quality of the final wine is common for sussreserve to come from the same must
how can you make sussreserve?
small proportion of must pre fermentation is taken than clarified, chilled and protected under SO2 so it remains fresh
% and sussreserve in final wine
might lower the content as there is no alcohol to it just sugar
sussreserve main problem
makes unbalanced wines
common alternative to sussreserve used today
stopping fermentation by adding so2 racking filtering
RCGM sweetener can be used?
yes but only in Deutscher Wein
what grapes have natural high sugars?
ones destined to beerenausles, eiswein trockenbeerenauslese
BA, Eiswein, TBA fermentation
really slow it will stop naturally by too much sugar (and leaving low alcohol)
BA, Eiswein, TCA general alcohol levels in final wine
between 5.5 and 8%
are sweet wines in germany still popular?
not as much, most styles are now dry also in mosel
why sweetness was important back in the day in germany
masked high acidity masked bitterness from underripe grapes changed when technology and climate brought riesling to full ripeness
general winemaking for red wines in germany
inexpensive = thermovinifivator (rapid extraction colour and flavours), fermented off the skins (low tannins)
higher quality = cold soaking, whole bunch, oak maturation
Home sales in germany %
11% domestic sales
general winemaking for rose wines in germany
youthful fruity inexpensive, cool temp ferment ins tainless steel small high price oaked
how wines are classified in germany
according to must weight at harvest
4 quality levels in germany
- deutscher wein
- landwein
- qualitaswein
- pradikatswein
deutscher wine is also known as
tafelwein
deutscher wine and landwein account for how much of the production today
annualy 4%
where the grapes of deutscher wine are coming from?
no geografical indication, they can come from everywhere in germany
alcohol levels for deutscher wein
between 8.5 and 15% (any style is permitted)
what is landwein?
PGI equivalent of Germany
main rules of Landwein
- 85% grapes are coming from the landwein region named on the label
- alcohol between 8.5 and 15%
- styles admitted are trocken or halbtrocken (few more sweeter stles might be allowed)
qualitaswein rules
- grapes are coming from one of the 13 region, name must appear on the label
- all styles allowed
- min alcohol is 7%
- enrichment is permitted
what wines do you get in the qualitaswein category
- majority everyday drinking, high volume
- some top quality from VDP producers that prefers to keep pratikatswein only on sweet wines and have trocken in qualitaswein
what is amtliche prufungsnummer (AP)?
10 to 12 digit indicating where and when a qualitaswein passed a tasting and lab analysis, vineyard location and bottle lot number
pradikatswein major rules
- must come from one of te 40 recognised bereich, the name can or cannot be on the label (mostly not), the name of the anbaugebiete needs to be all the times
- grapes have high must weight, enrichment is not allowed
- any grape variety is allowed, mainly riesling
what is a bereich?
smaller area inside a specific anbaugebiete
how much pradikatswein is producer?
half the quantity of qualitaswein