GuildSomm extended plus webinar Flashcards
Who brought Vitis vinifera to Germany?
The Romans, whose legionnaires crosse the Alps over 2,000 years ago and who extended their easter frontier to the Rhine River (far from the bases of viticulture in their Mediterranean homeland).
Who spread viticulture to the east of the Rhine in the late 8th century??
Charlemagne’s Franks and the monastic orders of the church acted as its custodians through the medieval period and into modern age.
Like Burgundy, many of Germany’s greatest vineyards were first devised and planted by Monks.
Which monks introduced the cultivation of Riesling and Pinot Noir to Germany?
The Cistercian monks.
In the after math of the French Revolution, who gained control of the German vineyards? Were they held by the church, privately or otherwise?
After the French Revolution, the vineyard ownership migrated to the private sector, which inspired liquidation of church holdings in Germany by the early 1800s.
The early 1800’s were a golden era for German wine. Which style of wine and to which market was it being exported?
Noble sweet wines were regularly being exported and they commanded higher prices than the best reds or Bourdeaux.
A lot of the export was to England.
What is hock?
A British term for German wine, referring specifically to the Middle Rhine. It was developed and in use by the 1800’s.
What impact did WWI and WWII have on the German wine industry both at home and in their export markets?
In WWI, German wine workers were in the battle field and vines were left unmaintained. After the war, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and the subsequent los of political privilege for the German nobility meant that many old aristocratic wine estates began decline.
After WWI exports plummeted due to French and British boycotts on German products. At the same time, America was going through prohibition and Russia was going through a revolution.
In WWII, when the Nazi’s drove out the Jews 60-70% of the wine merchant trade consisted of Jews and wine auctions ended (the primary sales mechanism for quality wines). During and after WWII there were international boycotts and the country was decided in tow. The German vineyard had shrunk to fewer than 50,000 hectares of vines.
In the 1950’s what type of wine was Germany producing?
In the 1950’s new grape crossings appeared and new wine technologies took hold in the cellars (along with electricity). German wine becomes synonymous with sweet and cheap. To English-speaking countries, Liebraumilch became the most recognizable-and reliably sweet tasting- German wine category. Müller-Thurgau was the shining varietal.
what was the effect of the Flurbereinigung (land reform) on Germany’s vineyards post WWII?
Flurbereinigung eliminated many of the centuries old terraces critical to wingerowing on some fo Germany’s most vertical slopes. In the Rheingau, workers leveled uneven vineyards with construction waste from the autobahn A3.
The most current German wine law dates to what year?
1971 - It’s a notoriously complex tangle of laws.
What does a goldkapsule indicate on a wine bottle?
Indicates a high level of sweetness
What are Einzellagen?
Vineyards
What is an Anbaugebiete?
Winegrawing region
What is Süssreserve?
“sweet reserve,” or sterilized fresh grape must
What does feinherb indicate on a German wine label?
Sightly off-dry style
How many anbaugebiete are there in Germany?
13 total. 11 originally and 2 added after the reunification of Germany
What are the 4 current categories of German Wine?
Wein: Formerly, Tafelwein. This category carries no geographic designation, although wines may be labeled as Deutscher Wein if produced from German grapes. Variety and vintage are permitted on the label.
Landwein: An IGP category including tricked and halbtrocken wines produced from any of 26 wine growing regions, known as Landweigebiete.
Qualitätswein: A PDO category, encompassing most of the country’s top dry wines. This category, inclusive of Prädikatswein, covers 96% of German wine production and almost all exports. In light of the low alcohol levels classically achieved by some of Germany’s fine sweet wines, this category require wines to acquire minimum 7% alcohol content, rather than the 8.5% minimum mandated by European law.
Prädikatswein: A PDO category and a subset of Qualitätswein, encompassing all of the country’s best sweet wines. The lower Prädikate require a minimum 7% acquired alcohol, from Beerenauslese on up, the minimum is reduced to 5.5%
What is the minimum required alcohol content for Qualitätswein?
7% alcohol due to the naturally low alcohol content of many of Germany’s finest sweet wines.
What are the must weight ranges in degrees Öchsle for the Prädikatsweins?
All below ranges in degrees Öchsle
Kabinett: 70-85 Spätlese: 76-95 Auslese: 83-105 Beerenauslese: 110-128 Eiswein: 110-128 Trockenbeerenauslese: 150-154
NOTE: The above values are not absolute ranges - minimum must requirements vary by region and variety. For instance, Riesling requires a minimum of 80 Öchsle in the Mosel for Spätlese, but must achieve 90 Öchsle in the Pfalz. There is no maximum level for each Prädikat.
What is the VDP?
Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter
An association of over 200 German producers dedicated to high quality, the preservation of a sense of place, and those grape varieties traditionally cultivated within each winegrowing region.
What does membership to the VDP require?
A commitment to the VDP’s classification system as well as the observance of higher minimum must weights and lower maximum yields than permitted by German law.
All wines much be estate grown.
Hand-harvesting is required for all single vineyard wines and for any Prädikat wines of Auslese level or above.
Members must cultivate a minimum 80% of traditional grape varieties from selection drawn by each regional association.
Member estates are identified by the mandatory presence of the VDP’s logo, the Traubenadler, on bottle capsules.
When was the VDP first established?
1910
Which are the four categories that can be produced with the VDP system (from the 2011 vintage forward)
Gutswein (regional tier)
Ortswen (village tier)
Erste Lage (premier cru)
Grosse Lage (Grand Cru)
What does GG indicate on a label?
Grosses Gewächs. This is a dry wine and is only applied to Grosse Lage tier wines. The grapes must be harvested at a minimum level of ripeness equivalent to Spätlese to be called GG
Grosses Gewächs white wines may not be released until September 1 of the year after harvest. For red wines, the category requires an additional year of aging and at least 12 months in wood.
What is the name for a dry Erste Lage wine?
Troken
How many hectare are under vine in Germany?
102,000 hectares
With Grosses Gewächs and/or all Qualitätswein is chaptalization legal?
Technically, yes. This is routinely practiced with Spätburgunder.
What is the maximum yield for a Grosse Lage and Erste Lage vineyard?
Grosse Lage: 50hl/ha
Erste Lage: 60 hl/ha
What is the minimum needed for varietal labeling in Germany?
Germany complies with the European varietal labeling minimum of 85%
Which is the most planted varietal in Germany?
Riesling
What is a Stück?
A classic German oval cask, 1200 L
Its variants, the Doppelstück and Halbstück, 2,400 liters and 600 liters respectively
Which are the second and third most planted grapes in Germany
2nd: Müller-Thurgau (Riesling x Madeleine Royale - 12,761 ha
3rd: Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) - 11,789 ha
What is Frühburgunder
Frühburgunder is a natural mutation genetically identical to Pinot Noir and is a rare specialty of Germany.
As of 2014, there were 257 hectares in the country. Thicker skinned than Pinot Noir, the grape also ripens about two weeks earlier in the season. Resultant wines are darker in color and fruit expression, with lower acidity.
In France, the grape is known as Pinot Noir Précoce or, historically, Pinot Madeleine
Which is Germany’s second most planted red grape?
Dornfelder - 8,105 ha
Helfensteiner x Heroldrebe
Developed by August Herold in 1956 and named after a founder of the Weinsberg viticulture school, August Dornfeld. The thick-skinned grape produces a darker, fuller style of wine than Spätburgunder but is highly vigorous in the vineyard. Its current popularity in Germany’s domestic market stems from the common belief among consumers that color equals quality in reds.
Which is a synonym for Grauburgunder?
Pinot Gris
By percentage, how much Silvaner is planted in Germany?
5%
At one point (pre 1969) it was the most planted grape in Germany.
What is the parentage of Silvaner?
Traminer X Österreichisch-Weiss (“Austrian white”)
Silvaner is Austiran in origin and first arrived in Franken during the mid 17th century.
What is a synonym for Weissburgunder?
Pinot Blanc
How much Pinot Blanc is planted in Germany?
4794 ha. Germany is the world’s lead grower of Pinot Blanc. The grape appears throughout Germany’s Anbaugebiete.
What is the German synonym for the Austrian Blaufränkisch?
Lemberger.
Lemberger is considered by many to be the second highest quality red grape in Germany. It is cultivated primarily in Württemberg.
Do German’s consume a lot of sparkling wine?
Yes, they are the largest consumers per capita of sparkling wine
Volker Raumland from Rheinhessen produces which style of wine?
Sparkling
Which varietals do you see in premium Sekt?
Riesling and Pinot varieties, with Pinot Blanc playing an important role
In the Rheingau, Assmannshausen produces primarily which type of wine?
Red
What are the soil types like in the central Rheingau?
In the central Rheingau there’s a mixture of slate, quartzite and sandstone with layers of loess and clay on the lower slopes and stonier, more eroded soils on the upper slopes with a higher proportion of slate.
However, to the west of Assmannshausen the river begins to head north. Here the weather cools and you see more consistent slate soils
The Maingau is considered part of the Rheingau but does not sit on the river itself, where is it located?
It is located east of Weisbaden in the valley of the Main River, a small Rhine tributary. Soils here move away from slate and sandstone and are replaced by loams and marls
What do “schloss” and “Kloster” translate to respectively?
Schloss - Castles
Kloster - Abbeys
On the Rheingau hill, castles (schloss) and abbeys (kloster) populate the landscape, signaling the historical importance of the church and aristocracy, the chief architect of viticulture in the Rheingau.
Romans introduced the vine to the Rheingau, but which group of people nurtured and proliferated the vine in the Rheingau region?
Monks
Benedictine monks founded a Kloster at Johannisberg in the early 12th century, and the Cistercians arrived from Burgundy to establish Kloster Eberbach in 1136
Which grape does the Rheingau focus on?
The Rheingau is concentrated heavily on Riesling. 2500 of the regions 3,160 hectares under vine are riesling (approximately every 8 out of 10 vines).
No region in Germany is as committed to Riesling as the Rheingau.
Does the Rheingau produces a substantial amount of Prädikatswein?
Yes. Botrytis is a common occurrence near the broad Rhine, especially in vineyards hearest the river.
In most vintages, the Rheingau adds 40% or more of its production to the Prädikatswein category, even as some of it finishes dry
Where is the earliest evidence of vine cultivation in Germany?
The Mosel.
In the 3rd century CE by the Romans. The church guided the development of wine growing in the region
When did Mosel vineyard production become primarily Riesling?
In 1786 Archbishop of Trier, Clemens Wenceslaus decreed a mandatory shift to Riesling throughout his vineyards
The Mosel River is a tributary of which river?
The Rhine.
The Mosel begins in the Vosges Mountains in France, home of the Moselle AOP and forms Luxembourg’s border with Germany
How many Bereiche are there in the Mosel?
6
Bernkastel (the Middle Mosel - the heart of the Mosel that contains 2/3rds of the Moesel’s vineyard area.)
Burg Cochem (the Lower Mosel or Terrassenmosel)
Obermosel (the upper Mosel)
Ruwertal (lying on the Ruwertal triburtary)
Saar (lying on the Saar tributary)
Moseltor - covering a scant handful of vines in the Saarland, near Obermosel
What parallel does the Mosel run along?
The 50th
Which are the warmest vineyard sites in the Mosel?
The south and southwest facing sites
Which mountain range lies to the north west of the Mittel Mosel?
The Eiffel rang.
The Hunsrück ranges lie on the other side of the river
Which is the Mosel soil’s trademark element?
Devonian slate
This Devonian slate helps to defuse nighttime lows and limit diurnal variation by releasing heat stored throughout the day into the canopy
Devonian slat is found in both dark blue and red variations; the effect is intensified with dark-colored slate, the more common variation.
The broken, weathered oil also affords excellent drainage.
What is the average annual rainfall in the Mosel?
26.5-35.5 inches
Which is Germany’s largest wine growing region?
Rheinhessen
Home to 1/4 of Germany’s land under vine.
Does the Rheinhessen have a single dominating climatic influence - river, mountain or other?
Not necessarily. The Rheinhessen is large and there is a diversity of mesoclimates and soils, no single climatic feature.
Because of this there is a diversity of grape varieties and no single Rheinhessen style (except for Liebraumilch)
What is the one area historically associated with quality wine growing in the Rheinhessen?
Roter Hang a “Red Hill” of clay and weathered red sandstone (Rotliegendes) on the bank of the Rhine between the villages of Nierstein and Nackenheim.
What wine gave the Rheinhessen (and much of Germany) a bad reputation?
Liebfraumilch - off-dry-to-semi-sweet generics blends.
Liebfraumilch was originated as a specialty of Worms but became a sugary, bastardized product that debased Germany’s reputation as a wine producer.
Where are the grapes for Keller’s “G-Max” sourced from?
An undisclosed parcel in the Bereich of Wonnegau in the Rheinhessen
Which are two top producers in the Rheinhessen?
Klause-Peter Keller
Phillipp Wittmann
Which grapes does the Rheinhessen focus on?
There is a breadth of grapes planted in the Rheinhessen. Riesling, Scheurebe, Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc,
Which wine region in Germany has a the second most planted land under vine?
Pfalz (second to the Rheinhessen)
The Pfalz also commands the world’s largest acreage of Riesling.
How does riesling from the Pfalz compare to other German rieslings?
The Pfalz is warm and sunny compared to other areas that grow riesling. The Pfalz style of riesling is dry, offering more body, weight and alcohol than any other classic Riesling region in Germany.
In the Pfalz, which varietals are authorized for VDP Grosse Lage bottling.
Riesling, Spatburgunder, Weissburgunder (pinot blanc)
Does the Pfalz grow a large variety of grapes?
yes, they grow:
Riesling Dornfelder Muller-Thurgau Portugieser Spatburgunder Grauburgunder Weissburgunder Scheurebe ....
Which region borders the Pfalz to the southwest?
Alsace
And the Rhein river is to the east
What is the soil like in the Pfalz?
Very similar to Alsatian soil, in that it’s incredibly varied due to geological activity and upheaval 250 million years ago.
Which are the two Bereiche of the Pfalz?
Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstrasse
Südliche Weinstrasse
Where is the greatest concentration of Grosse Lage sites in the Pfalz?
A small band of slope between Forst and Deidesheim has the greatest concentration of Pfalz Grosse Lage sites.
Where is Forster Kirchenstuck - the “church parcel” - located?
In the Mittelhaardt bereiche in the Phalz
It is considered the best site in the Mittelhaardt, if not the entire Pfalz. It is 3.7 hectares and is planted exclusively to riesling.
