Germany

Question 1

What was the root cause of German wine region fracture?

Answer 1

Napoleon’s 1803 takeover & institution of his code of inheritance.

Question 2

What was the German Wine Law of 1971?

Answer 2

An attempt to address the Napoleonic Vineyard Fracture by grouping vineyards to make them at least 5 ha in size (a law that still mostly stands today except where individual growers have succeeded in contesting it). This condensed more than 30,000 vineyards to about 2,600 with only geography as a factor, ignoring terroir, soil, or aspect and not solving the problem.

Question 3

Briefly describe Germany’s grape growing history

Answer 3

3rd Century: Romans planted vines N of the Alps
8th Century: Charlamagne planted vines E of the Rhine
Middle Ages: Catholic Church controls viticulture
1136 Cistercian Monks of Burgundy found Kloster Eberbach and begin amassing largest vineyard holdings in europe, including the walled Steinberg ortsteil in hattenheim that still stands today as an alleinbesitz of Kloster Eberbach

1803 Napoleonic conquest and instating of his code of inheretance began vineyard ownership fracture

Phylloxera, 2 World Wars, Mildew, & Depression decimate Germany as a quality wine region and production is replaced by mass-produced Liebfraumilch.

1971: Germany Wine Law of ‘71 ceased to address this by consolidating 30k vineyards into 2.6k using only geography as a factor; This law also codified the Prädikat ripeness hierarchy
2012: The VDP released extralegal framework for mostly dry, terroir driven German wines
2021: The VDP’s framework is simplified codified into law alongside Prädikat

Question 4

As of 2021, what are the German equivalents of Table Wine, PGI wine, & PDO wine?

Answer 4

Table Wine: Deutcher Wein
PGI Wine: Landwein

6 Categories of PDO Wine:
Region/Anbaugebiet
Area/Bereich/Grosslage
Village/Ortswein
Vineyard/Einzellage
Premier Cru or Erstes Gewãchs
Grand Cru or Grosses Gewächs

Question 5

What is an Einzellagen & what requirements must a wine meet to list one on its label?

Answer 5

Germany PDO Vineyard category:
can be still or sparkling
can be variety or blend
must be of prädikat quality by must weight/at least kabinett

Question 6

What is Erstes Gewächs & what requirements must a wine meet to list the term on a label?

Answer 6

German PDO Premier Cru Wine
Must be single vineyard
Single variety
Dry

Question 7

What is Grosses Gewächs & what requriements must a wine meet to list the term on a label?

Answer 7

German PDO Grand Cru Wine
Must be single vineyard
Single variety
Dry

Question 8

What does Gewannen mean on a wine label?

Answer 8

Designates a German PDO Wine comes from a specific parcel of a PDO vineyard; the label exists but has yet to be applied.

Question 9

What is a gU and what laws govern the use of that term?

Answer 9

It’s a single vineyard with German PDO status
Only 6 have been granted in Germany so far.
The wine it produces must be dry, or auselese or sweeter.

Question 10

What is a quälitatswein?

Answer 10

A German wine whose grapes were not ripe enough at harvest to qualify for Prädikat status, from 1 of 13 anbaugebiet, every day wine that allows for chaptalization

Question 11

What is prädikatswein?

Answer 11

A hierarchy of ripeness of german grapes at harvest:
Kabinett, Spätlese, Auselse, Beerenauslese, TrokenBeerenauslese, & Icewein

Question 12

What do the levels of the German Prädikat translate to? Which can be dry & how can you tell?

Answer 12

Auslese & below can be dry depending on their ABV.

Kabinett: lightest style; dry if 10-12% abv
Spätlese: Late Harvest; dry if 11-13% abv
Auslese: Select Harvest; dry if 13-14.5% abv
Beerenauslese: Berry Select Harvest
TrokenBeerenauslese: Dry Berry Select Harvest
Eiswein: Frozen wine

Question 13

What is an Oschle? What are the Oschels for the German Prädikat?

Answer 13

An Oechsle is the degrees of sugar concentration in grapes!

Kabinett: 70-85 Oechsle
Spätlese: 76-95 Oechsle
Auslese: 83-105 Oechsle; Can have botrytis
Beerenauslese: 110-128 Oechsle; will have botrytis
Trokenbeerenauslese: 150-154 Oechsle; will have botrytis
Eiswein: 110-128 Oechsle; frozen

Question 14

What does Sekt mean, and what is its hierarchy in Germany?

Answer 14

Sparkling wine! 3 Tiers of increasing quality:

Deutcher Sekt
Deutcher Sekt bA
Winzersekt

+ VDP Sekt Statute

Question 15

What is Deutcher Sekt and what laws govern its production?

Answer 15

The lowest tier of German sparkling wine: must come from German grapes, can be charmat method

Question 16

What is Deutcher Sekt bA and what laws govern its production?

Answer 16

Middle tier of German sparkling wine. Can be charmat, must be of German grapes, & at least 85% of its grapes must come from an anbaugebiet

Question 17

What is Winzersekt and what laws govern its production?

Answer 17

The highest tier of German sparkling wine
Must be traditional method, minimum 9mo lees
100% Estate fruit, must feature vintage & variety on label.

Question 18

What is VDP.Sekt.Statut & what laws govern its produciton? What tiers does it feature?

Answer 18

VDP.Sekt.Statut is the German VDP’s extralegal regulations for sparkling wine.

Must be traditional method
Estate Fruit
Hand harvested
Grape can be any regional specialty, with PN & Riesling preferred

VIntage must be aged for 24mo
Prestige for 36mo
Grand beyond 36mo

Can be EG or GG

Question 19

What are the German terms for single estate and monopole?

Answer 19

Ortsteil (can be listed instead of village) & Alleinbesitz

Question 20

What’s an AP & what does it include?

Answer 20

German PDO quality control serial number
Amtliche Prüfrungsnummer
Tells you the number of the tasting board, the number of the commune, producer, application, and year passed.

Question 21

What is troken & halbtroken?

Answer 21

Qualitative label terms for dry and off-dry wine, usually not used on quality wine.