German wine

Steep vineyards on Rüdesheimer Berg overlooking river Rhine. These vineyards are located in the southwestern part of the region Rheingau at a bend in the river. These vineyards are planted with Riesling grapes, with some Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), and produce some of the finest wines in Germany.

The village Zell at river Mosel, with steep vineyards above the village.

German wine is produced in many parts of Germany, with most of the production concentrated in the southwest of Germany, along river Rhine and its tributaries. Approximately 60 per cent of the German wine production is situated in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions (Anbaugebiete) for quality wine are situated. Germany has about 102 000 hectares of vineyard, which is around one tenth of the vineyard surface in Spain, France or Italy. The total wine production is usually around 9 million hectoliters annually, which places Germany as the ninth largest wine-producing country in the world.

Wine styles

Germany produces wines in many styles: dry, semi-sweet and sweet white wines, rosé wines, red wines and sparkling wines, called Sekt. (The only wine style not commonly produced is fortified wine.) Due to the northerly location of the German vineyards, the country has produced wines quite unlike any others in Europe, many of outstanding quality. Despite this it is still better known abroad for cheap, sweet or semi-sweet, low-quality mass-produced wines such as Liebfraumilch.

The wines have historically been predominantly white, and the finest made from Riesling. Many wines have been sweet and low in alcohol, light and unoaked. Historically many of the wines (other than late harvest wines) were probably dry (trocken), as techniques to stop fermentation did not exist. Recently much more German white wine is being made in the dry style again. Much of the wine sold in Germany is dry, especially in restaurants. However most exports are still of sweet wines, particularly to the traditional export markets such as Great Britain, which is the leading export market both in terms of volume and value. The United States (second in value, third in volume) and the Netherlands (second in volume, third in value) are two other important export markets for German wine.

Red wine has always been hard to produce in the German climate, and in the past was usually light coloured, closer to rosé or the red wines of Alsace. However recently there has been greatly increased demand and darker, richer red wines (often barrique aged) are produced from grapes such as Dornfelder and Spätburgunder, the German name for pinot noir.

Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of German wines is the high level of acidity in them, caused both by the lesser ripeness in a northerly climate and by the selection of grapes such as riesling which retain acidity even at high ripeness levels.

History

German wine from Franken in the characteristic round bottles (Bocksbeutel)

The Romans started cultivating vinifera vines in Germany in 100 BC. Later the Church began to play an important role in Germany, selecting the vineyard sites and experimenting with different vines. At one point the Church controlled most of the major vineyards in Germany. In the 1800s Napoleon took control of all the vineyards from the Church, including the best, and divided and secularized them. Since then the Napoleonic inheritance laws in Germany broke up the parcels of vineyards further, leading to the establishment of many cooperatives. However, there are a great deal of notable and world famous wineries in Germany, who have managed to acquire or hold enough land to produce enough wine not only for domestic consumption, but also for export.

Geography and climate

The main wine-producing climate lies below the 50th parallel, which runs through the regions Rheingau and Mosel. Above this line the climate becomes less conducive to wine production, but there are still vineyards above this line.

Because of the northerly climate, there has been a search for suitable grape varieties (particularly frost resistant and early harvesting ones), and many crosses have been developed, such as Müller-Thurgau in the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute. Recently there has been an increase in plantings of rResling as local and international demand has been demanding high quality wines.

The wines are all produced around rivers, mainly the Rhine and its tributaries, often sheltered by mountains. The rivers have significant microclimate effects to moderate the temperature. The soil is slate to absorb the sun's heat and retain it overnight. The great sites are often extremely steep so they catch the most sunlight, but they are difficult to harvest mechanically. The slopes are also positioned facing the south or south-west to angle towards the sun.

The vineyards are extremely small compared to new world vineyards. This makes the lists of wines produced long and complex, and many wines hard to obtain as production is so limited.

Regions

Germany's 13 regions for quality wine

There are 13 defined regions for quality wine in Germany:

1. Ahr - a small region along the river Ahr, a tributary of Rhine, that despite its northernly location primarily produces red wine from Spätburgunder.

2. Baden - in Germany's southwestern corner, across river Rhine from Alsace, and the only German region situated in European wine growing zone B rather than A, which means that it on average is the warmest and sunniest. Noted for its pinot wines - both red and white. One of two wine regions in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.

3. Franconia or Franken - around portions of Main river, and the only wine region situated in Bavaria. Noted for growing many varieties on chalky soil and for producing powerful dry Silvaner wines.

4. Hessische Bergstrasse - a small region in the federal state Hesse dominated by Riesling.

5. Mittelrhein - along the middle portions of river Rhine, primarily between the regions Rheingau and Mosel, and dominated by Riesling.

6. Mosel - along the river Moselle (Mosel) and its tributaries, the rivers Saar and Ruwer, and was previously known as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. The Mosel region is dominated by Riesling grapes and slate soils, and the best wines are grown in dramatic-looking steep vineyards directly overlooking the rivers. This region produces wine that is light in body, crisp, of high acidity and with pronounced mineral character. The only region to stick to Riesling wine with noticeable residual sweetness as the "standard" style, although dry wines are also produced.

7. Nahe - around the river Nahe where volcanic origins give very varied soils. Mixed grape varieties but the best known producers primarily grow Riesling, and some of them have achieved world reputation in recent years.

8. Palatinate or Pfalz - the second largest producing region in Germany, with production of very varied styles of wine (especially in the southern half), where red wine has been on the increase. The northern half of the region is home to many well known Riesling producers with a long history, which specialize in powerful Riesling wines in a dry style. Warmer than most other German regions, second only to Baden. Until 1995, it was known in German as Rheinpfalz.

9. Rheingau - a small region situated at a bend in river Rhine which give excellent conditions for wine growing. A historically very important region where many German wine making practices have originated, and where many high-profile producers are situated. Dominated by Riesling with some Spätburgunder. The Rheingau Riesling style is in-between Mosel and the Palatinate and other soutern regions, and at best times combines the best aspects of both.

10. Rheinhessen - the largest production area in Germany. Once known as Liebfraumilch land, but a quality revolution has taken place since the 1990s. Mixed wine styles and both red and white wines. The best Riesling wines are similar to Palatinate Riesling - dry and powerful. Despite its name, it lies in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, not in Hesse.

11. Saale-Unstrut - one of two regions in former East Germany, situated along the rivers Saale and Unstrut, and Germany's northernmost wine growing region.

12. Saxony or Sachsen - one of two regions in former East Germany, in the southeastern corner, in the federal state of Saxony.

13. Württemberg - a traditional red wine region, where grape varieties Trollinger, Schwarzriesling and Lemberger outnumber the varieties that dominate elsewhere. One of two wine regions in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.

These 13 regions (Anbaugebiete) are broken down into 39 districts (Bereiche) which are further broken down into collective vineyard sites (Großlagen) of which there are 165. The individual vineyard sites (Einzellagen) number over 2,600.

German wine-growing regions sorted by size (2006 situation)
Region	Number on map	Vineyard area (ha)	Proportion white:red (%)	Districts	Collective sites	Individual sites	Most grown varities
Rheinhessen	10	26 281	68:32	3	24	442	Müller-Thurgau (16.0%), Dornfelder (13.3%), Riesling (12.2%), Silvaner (9.5%), Portugieser (6.8%), Kerner (5.1%), Spätburgunder (5,1%), Grauburgunder (4.3%), Scheurebe (3.9%)
Palatinate	8	23 353	60:40	2	25	330	Riesling (21.8%), Dornfelder (13.9%), Müller-Thurgau (10.2%), Portugieser (10.1%), Spätburgunder (6.8%), Kerner (5.2%), Grauburgunder (4.5%), Silvaner (3.8%)
Baden	2	16 008	54:46	9	15	315	Spätburgunder (36.7%), Müller-Thurgau (18.1%), Grauburgunder (10.3%), Riesling (7.5%), Weißburgunder (7.1%), Gutedel (6.8%)
Württemberg	13	11 522	29:71	6	20	207	Trollinger (21.6%), Riesling (18.1%), Schwarzriesling (15.6%), Lemberger (13.4%), Spätburgunder (10.9%), Kerner (3.3%)
Mosel	6	8 975	91:9	6	19	524	Riesling (58.2%), Müller-Thurgau (14.7%), Elbling (6.4%), Kerner (4.6%)
Franconia	3	6 123	81:19	3	23	216	Müller-Thurgau (31.3%), Silvaner (20.5%), Bacchus (12.2%)
Nahe	7	4 124	74:26	1	7	312	Riesling (25.7%), Müller-Thurgau (13.6%), Dornfelder (11.2%)
Rheingau	9	3 088	84:16	1	11	120	Riesling (78.4%), Spätburgunder (12.7%), Müller-Thurgau (1.7%)
Saale-Unstrut	11	663	73:27	3	5	21	Müller-Thurgau (19.2%), Weißburgunder (11.6%), Silvaner (8.7%)
Ahr	1	548	12:88	1	1	43	Spätburgunder (61.5%), Portugieser (8.8%), Silvaner (7.1%)
Mittelrhein	5	460	75:25	2	11	111	Riesling (67.6%), Spätburgunder (8.5%), Müller-Thurgau (6.5%)
Hessische Bergstraße	4	435	80:20	2	3	24	Riesling (49.0%), Spätburgunder (10.1%), Müller-Thurgau (7.8%)
Saxony	12	416	82:18	2	4	16	Müller-Thurgau (19.5%), Riesling (14.9%), Weißburgunder (12.5%)

Grape varieties

Overall nearly 135 grape varieties may be cultivated in Germany - 100 are released for white wine production and 35 for red wine production. According to the international image, Germany is still regarded to be a region for white wine production. Since the 1980s the demand for German red wine has constantly increased and this has resulted in a doubling of the vineyards assigned for the production of red wine. Nowadays nearly 35% of the vineyards are cultivated with red grapes. Some of the red grapes are also used to produce Rosé.

Out of all the grape varieties listed below, only 20 have a significant market share.

Common grape varieties in Germany (2006 situation, all varieties >250 ha)
Variety	Colour	Synonym(s)	Area (%)	Area (hectares)	Trend	Major regions (with large plantations or high proportion)
1. Riesling	white		20.8	21 197	constant	Mosel, Palatinate, Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Nahe, Mittelrhein, Hessische Bergstrasse
2. Müller-Thurgau	white	Rivaner	13.7	13 988	decreasing	Rheinhessen, Baden, Franken, Mosel, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen
3. Spätburgunder	red	Pinot Noir	11.6	11 807	increasing	Baden, Palatinate, Rheinhessen, Württemberg, Rheingau, Ahr
4. Dornfelder	red		8.1	8 231	constant	Rheinhessen, Palatinate, Nahe
5. Silvaner	white		5.2	5 314	decreasing	Rheinhessen, Franken, Saale-Unstrut, Ahr
6. Blauer Portugieser	red		4.6	4 683	decreasing	Palatinate, Rheinhessen, Ahr
7. Grauburgunder	white	Ruländer, Pinot Gris	4.3	4 382	decreasing	Rheinhessen, Palatinate, Mosel
8. Kerner	white		3.9	4 004	decreasing	Rheinhessen, Palatinate, Württemberg, Mosel,
9. Pinot Blanc	white	Klevner, Weißer Burgunder	3.4	3 491	increasing	Baden, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen
10. Trollinger	red		2.5	2 518	constant	Württemberg
11. Schwarzriesling	red	Müllerrebe, Pinot Meunier	2.4	2 424	constant	Württemberg
12. Regent	red		2.1	2 183	increasing
13. Bacchus	white		2.1	2 113	decreasing	Franken
14. Scheurebe	white		1.7	1 781	decreasing	Rheinhessen
15. Lemberger	red		1.6	1 664	increasing	Württemberg
16. Gutedel	white	Chasselas	1.1	1 123	constant	Baden
17. Chardonnay	white		1.1	1 087	increasing
18. Traminer	white	Gewürztraminer	0.8	832	constant
19. Faberrebe	white		0.7	689	decreasing
20. Ortega	white		0.7	686	decreasing
21. Huxelrebe	white		0.7	677	decreasing
22. St. Laurent	red		0.7	673	increasing
23. Elbling	white		0.6	583	decreasing	Mosel
24. Morio-Muskat	white		0.5	541	decreasing
25. Acolon	red		0.5	460	increasing
26. Merlot	red		0.4	416	increasing
27. Domina	red		0.4	395	increasing
28. Dunkelfelder	red		0.4	372	constant
29. Cabernet Mitos	red		0.3	317	increasing
30. Cabernet Sauvignon	red		0.3	274	constant
31. Sauvignon Blanc	white		0.3	260	increasing
All white varieties			63.1	64 331	decreasing
All red varities			36.9	37 668	increasing
Grand total			100.0	101 999	constant

Grape variety trends over time

Per cent share of common grape varieties in Germany 1964-2006. Data taken from German Wine Statistics.

During the last four decades, several changes have taken place. During the middle of the 20th century and up to the late 1960s, Silvaner was the most planted variety, after which it was overtaken by high-yielding Müller-Thurgau, which in turn started to lose ground in the 1980s. From the mid-1990s, Riesling became the most planted variety, a position which it had not enjoyed since early 20th century. Red grapes in Germany have experienced several ups and downs. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, there was a downward trend, which was reversed around 1980. From mid-1990s and during the next decade, there was an almost explosive growth of plantation of red varieties. Plantings was shared between traditional Spätburgunder and a number of new crossings, led by Dornfelder, while other traditional German red varities such as Portugieser only held their ground. In the last few years, the growth of red grape plantations has levelled off.

Common white wine grapes

White grape varieties account for 63% of the area planted in Germany. Principal varieties are listed below; there are larger numbers of less important varieties too.

• Riesling is the benchmark grape in Germany and cover the most area in the German vineyard. It is an aromatic variety with a high level of acidity that can be used for dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling wines. The drawback to Riesling is that it takes 130 days to ripen and, in marginal years, the Riesling crop tends to be poor.
• Müller-Thurgau is an alternative grape to Riesling that growers have been using, and which is one of the so-called "new crossings". Unlike the long ripening time of Riesling, this grape variety only requires 100 days to ripen, can be planted on more sites, and is higher yielding. However, this grape has a more neutral flavour than Riesling, and as the main ingredient of Liebfraumilch its reputation has taken a beating together with that wine variety. Germany's most planted variety from the 1970s to the mid-1990s, it has been losing ground for a number of years. Dry Müller-Thurgau is usually labeled Rivaner.
• Silvaner is a another fairly neutral, but quite old grape variety that was Germany's most planted until the 1960s and after that has continued to lose ground. It has however remained popular in Franconia and Rheinhessen, where it is grown on chalky soils to produce powerful dry wines with a slighlty earthy and rustic but also food-friendly character.
• Kerner
• Bacchus
• Scheurebe
• Gewürztraminer
• Grauer Burgunder or Ruländer (Pinot Gris)
• Weisser Burgunder (Pinot Blanc)

Common red wine grapes

Red wine varieties account for 37% of the plantations in Germany but has increased in recent years.

• Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) - a much-appreciated grape variety that demands good sites to produce good wines and therefore competes with Riesling. It is considered to give the most elegant red wines of Germany.
• Dornfelder - a "new crossing" that has become much appreciated in Germany since it is easy to grow and gives dark-coloured, full-bodied, fruity and tannic wines of a style which used to be harded to produce in Germany.
• Portugieser
• Trollinger
• Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier)
• Lemberger

Released varieties

The varieties listed below are officially released for commercial cultivation. These include varieties only released for selected experimental cultivation.

released white grapes
Albalonga Arnsburger Auxerrois Bacchus Blue Silvaner Bronner Chardonnay Ehrenbreitsteiner Ehrenfelser Elbling Faberrebe Findling Fontanara Freisamer Früher Malingre Gelber Muskateller Gewürztraminer	Goldriesling Grauburgunder Gutedel Hibernal Hölder Huxelrebe Irsay Oliver Johanniter Juwel Kanzler Kerner Kernling Mariensteiner Merzling Morio-Muskat Müller-Thurgau (Rivaner) Muskat-Ottonel	Nobling Optima Orion Ortega Osteiner Perle Perle von Csaba Phoenix Prinzipal Regner Reichensteiner Rieslaner Riesling Roter Elbling Roter Gutedel Roter Muskateller Sauvignon Blanc	Scheurebe Schönburger Septimer Siegerrebe Silcher Silvaner Sirius Staufer Veltliner Weißer Burgunder Würzer

released red grapes
Acolon André Blauburger Cabernet Dorsa Cabernet Mitos Cabernet Sauvignon Dakapo Deckrot Domina	Dornfelder Dunkelfelder Frühburgunder Hegel Helfensteiner Heroldrebe Lemberger	Merlot Muskat-Trollinger Palas Portugieser Regent Rondo Rotberger Schwarzriesling	Spätburgunder St. Laurent Tauberschwarz Trollinger Zweigelt

See Also: List of grape varieties

Viticultural practices

Many of the best vineyards in Germany are steep vineyards overlooking rivers, where mechanisation is impossible and a lot of manual labour is needed to produce the wine.

Since it can be difficult to get ripe grapes in such a northernly location as Germany, the sugar maturity of grapes (must weight) as measured by the Öchsle scale have played a great role in Germany.

Many wines in Germany are produced using organic farming or biodynamic methods.

Winemaking practices

Chaptalization is allowed only up to the QbA level, not for Prädikatswein and all wines must be fermented dry if chaptalised. In order to balance the wine, unfermented grape juice, called Süssreserve, may be added after fermentation.

Classification

Main article: German wine classification

A German wine bottle

German wine classification is sometimes the source of confusion, especially to non-German speakers. However, to those familiar with the terms used, a German wine label reveals much information about the quality level and dryness/sweetness of the wine.

• Deutscher Tafelwein (German table wine) is mostly consumed in the country and not exported.
• Deutscher Landwein (German country wine) comes from a larger designation and again doesn't play an important role in the export market.
• Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) wines are simple wines that meet the first level of quality.
• Prädikatswein, recently (August 1, 2007) renamed from Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP) wines are of greater quality. The grapes for these wines must meet a certain level of ripeness. As ripeness increases, the fruit characteristics and price increase.
  • Kabinett wines are made from grapes picked several days after the QbA grapes are picked. These are the first picked grapes of the Prädikat level.
  • Spätlese wines ("late harvest") are made from grapes harvested 12-14 days after the Kabinett grapes are picked.
  • Auslese wines ("select harvest") are made from grapes that have been hand-selected out from the other grapes. These grapes are late-harvest and have a high sugar content.
  • Beerenauslese wines ("berry selection") are made from grapes that have been left on the vine longer than the Auslese grapes. These grapes develop the fungus Botrytis, which removes the moisture from the grape. Thus these wines are very sweet and make good dessert wines.
  • Eiswein (ice wine) wine is made grapes that freeze naturally on the vine and reach a sweetness of Beerenauslese level. The grapes are harvested and pressed in the frozen state. The ice keeps part of the water isolated to achieve the high sugar content of these wines.
  • Trockenbeerenauslese wines ("dry berries selection") are extremely sweet, concentrated and usually quite expensive wines. The grapes used for Trockenbeerenauslese have reached an even more raisin-like state than those used for Beerenauslese.

In addition, wines are classified by the Verband Deutscher Prädikatswein (VDP). Top wines are classified according to region and the very best vineyards.

On wine labels, German wine may be classified according to the residual sugar of the wine. Trocken refers to dry wine. These wines have less than 9 grams/liter of residual sugar. These bottles are usually identified by a yellow-colored capsule. Halbtrocken wines are off-dry and have 9-18 grams/liter of residual sugar. Due to the high acidity ("crispness") of many German wines, the taste profile of many halbtrocken wines fall within the "internationally dry" spectrum rather than being appreciably sweet. "Feinherb" wine are slightly more sweet than halbtrocken wines.

There are also several terms to identify the grower and producers of the wine.

• Weingut refers to a wine producing estate.
• Weinkellerei refers to a winery.
• Winzergenossenschaft refers to a winegrowers' co-operative wine.
• Gutsabfüllung refers to a grower/producer wine that is estate bottled.
• Abfüller refers to a bottler or shipper.

If the suffix "-er" appears after the name of the town, the wine comes from a particular vineyard located in that town.

Industry structure

The German wine industry consists of many small vineyard owners. The 1999 viticultural survey counted 68 598 vineyard owners, down from 76 683 in Western Germany in 1989/90, for an average size of 1.5 ha. Most of the 40 625 operators of less than 0.5 ha should likely be classified as hobby vintners. Many smaller vineyard owners do not pursue viticulture as a full-time occupation, but rather as a supplement to other agriculture or to hospitality. It is not uncommon for a visitor to a German wine region to find that a small family-owned Gasthaus has its own wine. Smaller grape-growers who do not wish or are able to commercialise their own wine have several options available: sell the grapes (either on the market each harvest year, or on long-term contract with larger wineries looking to supplement their own production), deliver the grapes to a wine-making cooperative (called Winzergenossenschaft in Germany), or sell the wine in bulk to winemaking firms which use them in "bulk brands" or as a base wine for Sekt. Those who own vineyards in truly good locations also have the option of renting them out to larger producers who will handle the entire operation of the vineyard.

5 892 vineyard owners owned more than 5 ha each in 1999, accounting for 57% of Germany's total vineyard surface, and it is in this category that the full-time vintners and commercial operations are primarily found. However, truly large wineries, in terms of their own vineyard holdings, are rare in Germany. Hardly any German wineries reach the size of New World winemaking companies, and only a few are of the same size as a typical Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé château. Of the ten wineries considered as Germany's best by Gault Millau Weinguide in 2007, nine had 10,2 — 19 ha of vineyards, and one (Weingut Robert Weil, owned by Suntory) had 70 ha. This means that most of the high-ranking German wineries only produces around 100 000 bottles of wine per year. That production is often distributed over, say, 10-25 different wines from different vineyards, of different Prädikat, sweetness and so on. The largest vineyard owner is the Hessian State Wineries (Hessische Staatsweingüter), owned by the federal state of Hesse, with 200 ha vineyards, the produce of which is vinified in three separate wineries. The largest privately held winery is Dr. Bürklin-Wolf with 85,5 ha.

References

• Stephen Brook, The Wines of Germany. ISBN 1-84000-791-5.
• Alfred Langenbach, German Wines and Vines. Vista Books 1962.
• S.F. Hallgarten, German Wines. ISBN 0-9507410-0-0.
• Andrew Barr, Wine Snobbery: An Insiders Guide to the Booze Business. ISBN 0-571-15060-8. Especially Chapter 8 on history of sweetness in German wines.

See also

• German cuisine
• German wine label
• German wine auctions
• Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter
• Flurbereinigung