Location (viticulture)
With location is in the wine-growing of the geographical cultivation place of the wine called. In Germany, location names are specified for all wine-growing areas . Locations are structured hierarchically according to cultivation area > area > large location > individual location .
General
In the Austrian wine law, the "wine-growing area" is defined analogously to the German "growing area". In Switzerland, the term "viticulture zone" is used.
In the Germanic designation of origin system, in contrast to the Romanic designation of origin system, naming the growing area does not provide any information about the type of wine, the taste or the production of the wine.
The oldest documented growing areas concern the port wine from the Douro region (1756) and the Chianti Classico of Tuscany (1716).
Germany
Growing area
In the German wine law , this term was set 1971st The growing area is a designation of origin for quality wine that refers to a precisely defined area. Cultivation areas are further subdivided into areas and large areas and individual layers. In Germany there are 13 growing areas for quality and predicate wines, see also the article growing area .
Great location
Großlage is a designation of origin in viticulture . After the German table wine and the quality wine of certain growing areas (QbA), it is the third largest unit for determining the origin of a wine from Germany. It almost always refers to the combination of several individual layers in a particular German growing area . There are currently almost 170 (as of 2004) large- scale locations in Germany, with an average size of 600 hectares . In terms of the name, the large site cannot be distinguished from a single site.
Wines from large sites do not necessarily have to be of poorer quality than those from single sites. It mainly depends on the quality of the locations that belong to a large location. However, a good and well-known individual site is usually marketed as such. Wines with a large location on the label are therefore usually:
- from a location that is not well regarded by comparison
- a blend of grapes from different locations within one large location
Many large sites have a bad reputation among consumers and winegrowers, which is why their future is currently being discussed in the course of a reform of the wine law.
Single layer
In viticulture, the individual vineyard, in contrast to the large vineyard, is a more detailed information on the wine label . It describes a certain area under vines, which must be at least five hectares in size - but there are also exceptions, such as the Walporzheimer fermentation chamber . In connection with the individual layer, the name of the place is mentioned on the label, for example “ Forster Ungeheuer ”, where “Forst” designates the locality and “Ungeheuer” the location. There are around 2,600 individual layers in Germany.
The location names meanwhile do not always represent a real quality designation, partly because areas of different quality were sometimes assigned to an originally significant individual location. Many winemakers and associations are therefore striving for a reform and are going their own way. In addition, a large layer cannot be distinguished from an individual layer purely by the information on the bottle label.
Some wines, especially in the Rheingau , therefore have designations such as “Erstes Gewächs” (France = Premier Cru ) and “Großes Gewächs” (France = Grand Cru ). The best known German single vineyard is the " Bernkasteler Doctor ". With the redesign of the Wine Act 2011 as part of the EU wine market reform, the value of a single location was emphasized. Since then there has been a connection between the French system (Cru, Grand Gru and Premier Cru) and the German system (quality level model), starting with "German wine" via z. B. "Landwein Rhein", regional wine (e.g. Moselle, Rheingau, etc.) up to local wine, as well as, in particularly valuable locations, also the tip "Großes Gewächs" and "Erstes Gewächs". Terms such as “Selection”, which do not reflect the terroir but an expansion variant, no longer fit into this concept. It also plays a role that it is not always easy to market a product that is as diverse as wine.
Taken alone, without a location name, all of these terms are interchangeable, the typical character of a region ( terroir ) takes a back seat. The designation of the single vineyard will therefore presumably retain its justification and meaning, at least for top wines and top locations.
Austria
The somewhat more than 30 large locations in Austria are extremely rare to find on labels and hardly play a role in the names.
Vineyard
A vineyard in the sense of the Austrian Wine Law "is a part of a municipality that presents itself as an independent part of the area due to natural or artificial boundaries or as a result of viticulture and has either already been referred to as a vineyard or the production of similar and equivalent wines due to the location and nature of the soil can be expected. "
Certain similarities to the term single layer used in Germany are recognizable, but the exact definition differs.
In contrast to the large sites, the vineyards are not to be determined by ordinance of the Federal Minister under the Austrian Wine Act.
France
see Cru
literature
- Frank Schoonmaker: Das Wein-Lexikon - Die Weine der Welt, Frankfurt am Main 1978 (Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag), ISBN 3-596-21872-1 , article "Lage" (page 130), "Individual location" (page 77), " Großlage "(page 103)," Ried "(page 189)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Consolidated federal law: Entire legal regulation for the Wine Law 2009, version of February 10, 2012 , accessed on February 10, 2012