About wines from Germany, characteristics of wine and reading German wine labels

Date: June 4, 2011

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Germany is cold, even more so than most of Continental Europe (which exists at a latitude corresponding with the more northern parts of the Continental United States). The climate is extremely marginal for growing grapes, and the extremely steep slopes that are characteristic of Germany’s most famous wine regions are extremely hostile towards agriculture. Unfortunately nobody informed the Germans of this fact, and they proceeded to make world-class white wines from the land.

The most famous region is unquestionably the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer valley. The finer vineyards here are situated on extremely steep slopes (over 45 degrees), giving lower yields but better solar exposure and ripeness. Most of the region has slate soil, and this shows up in some of the wines as a mineral-like flavor. It is here that the finest Riesling is produced. They changed labeling to be less of a mouthful, so after 2007 it will just say Mosel on the label instead of Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, but nothing else has changed.

Other regions of Germany are less well-known but still produce quality wine. The Pfalz is the highest-producing region and makes much of Germany’s inexpensive bulk wine. The Rheinhessen is the physically largest region, and produces mostly Muller-Thurgau for low end wines. The Rheingau is hilly terrain and produces high end Riesling, but in a less “exeuberant” style than the Mosel.

Finally, there is the little-known region of Franconia (Franken). Franconian wines are easily recognizable by their distinctive bottle shape, which is protected by EU law. These wines are not exported often (and are quite limited when they are because Franconia is small) but are of quite good quality. Sylvaner and Muller-Thurgau are the most common white varietals, and the red (mostly pinot noir) is said to be good as well.

Wine Characteristics

Of the grapes grown in Germany, Riesling is king. The grape has a slightly floral bouquet, and very prominent mixed fruit flavors, containing citrus, pineapple, apple, apricot, and even honey. In Germany, winemakers typically do not ferment all the sugar, resulting in a slightly sweet nectar flavor. Additionally, many German winemakers choose to emphasize the complex fruitiness of the Riesling grape.

You may also see other varietals. Gewurztraminer is a lively, sharp grape. Silvaner is often used in blends, and occasionally alone. Some hybrid varietals are used to make dessert wine, as they mature faster than Riesling. You may see Siegerrebe (Gewurztraminer – Madeleine Angevine) or Huxelrebe (Weisser Gutedel – Courtillier Musque) at Beerenauslese and higher levels for more affordable prices than Riesling. Lastly, Muller-Thurgau (Riesling – Silvaner cross) is one of the most widely grown varietals, but is usually not named as it is not a very high quality grape.

You may see some German Qualitatswein called “Liebfraumilch.” This is a very light, sweet, and rather bland white wine that is produced in bulk from the fast-ripening Muller-Thurgau grape. It’s very inexpensive, but you get what you pay for. For only a little more you can buy QbA Riesling, which is a significant step up in quality.

German Wine Labels

Leave it to the Germans to devise a wine labelling system that includes all the information that there is to know, and none of it useful.

The top tier German wines are labelled Qualitatswein mit Pradikat, abbreviated QmP. These wines have attained the specified ripeness level (pradikat), come from the named location, are made in the traditional styles, and passes chemical analysis and taste tests (yes, the Germans chemically analyze their wine and look for things like Ph and residual sugar parts per million)

The second tier is labelled Qualitatswein bestimmter Angaugebeite, often written simply as Qualitatswein, and abbreviated as QbA. These wines come from the specified location and are made in the traditional styles, but typically do not achieve the ripeness levels required for pradikat designation.

The bottom tier consists of things labeled Deutscher Tafelwein or Deutscher Landwein, and rarely escape the country.

A German wine label includes the following things:

* Winemaker, the people who made the wine, such as Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt. You will often see the word “Weingut”; this means winemaker and indicates that the wine was grown, made, and bottled on the premises (in the manner of a French chateau). There are other designations for cooperatives and merchant resellers.

* Varietal, the type of grape. Most top German wine is Riesling, but one occasionally runs into other varieties like Gewurztraminer or Silvaner. Muller-Thurgau is one of the most widely grown varieties, but nobody advertises this fact because it’s a fast-ripening grape designed to be grown in bulk. A named varietal guarantees a minimum of 85% content.

* Vintage, the year the grapes were harvested. All grapes must come from the named year.

* Geographic Origin, the region the grapes came from, such as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. All grapes come from the specified region.

* A pradikat designation for QmP wines.

* A vineyard may also be named, such as Piesporter Goldtropfchen, although this is usually done only for the better pradikat wines.

Some of the low-end QbA wine omits the varietal and uses a traditional name instead, like Blue Nun or Schwarze Katz. There are rules covering these names as well and are specific to the traditional name.

The pradikat designation on the wine indicates the level of ripeness that the grapes have attained. They are, in order of increasing ripeness:

Kabinett

These grapes are considered ripe. They make the lightest wines of the pradikat-designated wines.

Spatlese

These grapes are considered late harvest; they have been left on the vine much longer and are more intensely flavored.

Auslese

These grapes are very late harvest hand-selected grapes, and are extremely ripe.

Beerenauslese

These grapes are over-ripe and are showing signs of botrytis fungus infection (which is a good thing). The grapes are extremely concentrated and intense, and is usually made as dessert wine.

Eiswein

These are Beerenauslese grapes that have been deliberately allowed to freeze on the vine. The grapes are pressed while still frozen. The ice locks up most of the water, leaving a more concentrated, sweeter juice. Since the frozen grapes must be hand selected and processed immediately in the middle of the night while they are still frozen, production is very limited and expensive.

Trockenbeerenauslese

These are Beerenauselse that have been left on the vine so long that they have shriveled due to botrytis. This produces fine dessert wine. Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese is extremely rare and expensive.

Sweetness usually goes up as you move up the pradikat scale, although this is not required. The designation only refers to the sugar levels at harvest time, not in the final product. However, in most cases, a higher pradikat wine will taste sweeter and more concentrated than a lower wine at the same alcohol level, since the higher wine has much more residual sugar. Beerenauslese and higher wines have sufficient residual sugar to taste sweet even at 14% alcohol.

Wines are reasonably priced through Auslese. Beyond that, prices increace very rapidly. In the case of Riesling, the growing season is often not long enough to produce significant quantities of Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, and this extreme scarcity leads to high prices. Eiswein of any sort tends to be very expensive as well. For Beerenauslese and higher, the wines are frequently sold in half-size (375ml) bottles, to be more affordable and more accessible (it is difficult for two to finish a full bottle of very intense dessert wine in one sitting).

In addition to the pradikat designation, the modifiers trocken and halbtrocken may be added. Trocken means dry; halbtrocken means off-dry. Most Riesling is made with higher residual sugar (hence the common 8.5% alcohol); the trocken and halbtrocken wines are made drier and thus reach more typical alcohol levels of 11.5-12%.

Fitz-Ritter Ungsteiner Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese 1996

Putting all this together: consider this label, courtesy Fitz-Ritter. The pertinent information is that it is a Fitz-Ritter Ungsteiner Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese 1996, Qualitatswein mit Pradikat Pfalz.

This means that the wine was made and bottled by Fitz-Ritter (as the “weingut” indication tells us), that it comes from the Herrenberg vineyard near Ungstein, that Riesling grapes were used, that these grapes attained Spatlese level ripeness, tha the harvest year was 1996, and that the region is Pfalz.

There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

SOURCE: http://userweb.cs.utexas.edu/~walter/wine/germany.html

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