Stage 3
Wines by Region
Germany
Germany has a northern continental climate with warm summers, cold winters and clearly defined springs and autumns, which can be warm and long. This climate provides a long growing season for the grapes some of which are not picked until late November and into December.
The wine growing part of the country is divided into 13 quality regions. The word for region in German is Anbaugebiete. The most important of the regions are the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, the Rheingau and the Pfalz, which is close to the French border near to Alsace.
In the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer the best wines come from the mineral rich slate slopes and are made from Riesling. The wines from this region are light & delicate with a hint of a prickle caused by CO2. They are easily spotted without having to read the bottle label as they will be bottled in green bottles. The wines from the Rheingau are fuller bodied and richer and are sold in brown bottles.
Germany has developed some wines, which are highly perfumed with high sugar levels and are very fruity, light bodied with medium sweetness and acidity. These wines are made in large volume and are inexpensive and come from lower quality grapes such as Müller Thurgau and Silvaner. The main production areas are Rheinhessen and Pfalz and many are labelled Liebfraumilch QbA.
The Germany Quality Classification
The German classification system is based on ripeness levels of the grapes when picked. They are as follows:
- Table Wine– called Deutscher Tafelwein for wines made from grapes grown in Germany and Tafelwein for wines made from grapes grown outside of Germany.
- QBA are simple quality wines
- QMP is a quality wine with distinction. These wines have to be submitted for tasting and analysis
Within the QMP category of wines there is a hierarchy of designations that reflects the sugar content of the grapes when they are picked:
- Kabinett– the grapes were picked at normal harvest time but were riper than grapes for QBA. The wines are light in body, high acidity and have green fruit notes. The wines are often medium sweetness and light in alcohol but they can be dry with medium alcohol.
- Spätlese– spat means late and lese means harvest. These wines were made from grapes picked later than the grapes for the Kabinett and have extra flavour of citrus and exotic fruit and higher sugar content and more body than a Kabinett
- Auslese– these wines are made from selected extra ripe grapes, some may have been affected by noble rot. The wines have more body and flavours of exotic fruits. This is the highest category where the wine may appear dry.
- Beerenauslese– Beeren means berries, aus means selected and lese means harvest – this means that the grapes were affected by noble rot and therefore each berry was individually selected when harvested.
- Trockenbeerenauslese– trocken means dry but in this case it refers to the condition of the grape when picked because they were so affected by noble rot that they had shrivelled up like a raisin.
- Eiswein– these wines are made grapes that are picked and pressed when they are frozen. Once the grapes have been pressed the ice crystals are removed and this concentrates the sugars and acids and a sweet wine is made.
You will also come across other terms on wine labels such as Trocken, which means a dry wine and Halbtrocken, which is an off-dry wine.