German wine classification


The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented by the German Wine Law of 1971. Nearly all of Germany's vineyards are delineated and registered as one of approximately 2,600 Einzellagen, and the produce from any vineyard can be used to make German wine at any quality level, as long as the must weight of the grapes reaches the designated minimum level. As the current German system does not classify vineyards by quality, the measure of wine ’quality’ is the ripeness of the grapes alone.
Approximately 200 wine makers have been organised since 1910 in the Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter. To counter the shortcomings of the 1971 law, the VDP nowadays classifies the best vineyards by its own rules into 'VDP.Grosse Lage' and 'VDP.Erste Lage' based on 19th century Prussian tax maps. Most of these wine makers are based in the regions of Mosel, Pfalz, and Franken.
The classification of wines has been reorganized since 1 August 2009 by the EU wine market organization. The traditional German wine classification remained mostly unchanged, as the European system follows the origin-related system like in Germany and most areas of France. The already existing protection of geographical indication was transmitted through this step as well to the wine classification.

Quality designations

There are two major categories of German wine: table and "quality" wine. Table wine includes the designations Deutscher Wein and Landwein. Unlike the supposed equivalents of "Vin de Table" / "Vino da Tavola" and "Indicazione Geografica Tipica" / "Vin de Pays", production levels are not high, and these wines are typically exported to the United States. In 2005, Tafelwein and Landwein only accounted for 3.6% of total production. In Baden, there is a growing trend to release high-end wines as Landwein.
Quality wine is divided into two types:
;Qualitätswein, or quality wine from a specific region.
;Prädikatswein, or superior quality wine.
The different Prädikat designations used are as follows, in order of increasing sugar levels in the must:
;Kabinett - literally "cabinet"
;Spätlese - meaning "late harvest"
;Auslese - meaning "select harvest"
;Beerenauslese - meaning "select berry harvest"
;Trockenbeerenauslese - meaning "select dry berry harvest" or "dry berry selection"
;Eiswein
The minimum must weight requirements for the different Prädikat designations are as follows. Many producers, especially top-level producers, exceed the minimum requirements by a wide margin.
This does not necessarily determine the sweetness of the final wine, because the winemaker may choose to ferment the wine fully or let some residual sugar remain.

Special designations

In certain regions, additional rules are applied to how a wine is classified. These special names represent special characters.

Sweetness of the wine

The sugar content in the finished wine can be indicated by the following designations for Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein. For sparkling wines, many of the same designations are used, but have a different meaning.

Color

There are also color designations that can be used on the label:
; Weißwein - white wine
; Rotwein - red wine
;Roséwein - rosé wine
;Weißherbst - rosé wine or blanc de noirs

Extra ripeness or higher quality

Some producers also use additional propriate designations to denote quality or ripeness level within a Prädikat. These are outside the scope of the German wine law. Especially for Auslese, which can cover a wide range of sweetness levels, the presence of any of these designations tends to indicate a sweet dessert wine rather than a semi-sweet wine. These designations are all unregulated.


; Goldkapsel - gold capsule
; Stars *, ** or ***
; Fuder numbers

Special and regional wine types

There are also a number of specialty and regional wines, considered as special version of some quality category. Here are some of them:
;Liebfraumilch or Liebfrauenmilch
;Moseltaler
;Rotling
;Schillerwein
;Badisch Rotgold

New classes for wines

There are two classes for wines with official status in all 13 Anbaugebiete and one regional class in Rheinhessen and the Rheingau, respectively.
;Classic
;Riesling Hochgewächs
;Selection Rheinhessen
;Rheingau Grosses Gewächs


;Charta Riesling

Geographic classification

The geographic classification is different for Landwein, Deutscher Wein, Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein.

Geographic classification for Deutscher Wein (formerly Tafelwein) and Landwein

There are seven Deutscher Wein regions: Rhein-Mosel, Bayern, Neckar, Oberrhein, Albrechtsburg, Stargarder Land and Niederlausitz. These are divided into a number of subregions, which in turn are divided into 19 Landwein regions. Names of individual vineyards are not used for Deutscher Wein or Landwein. Deutscher Wein must be 100% German in origin, or specifically state on the label where grapes were sourced from within the European Union. Sparkling wine produced at the Deutscher Wein level is often labeled as Deutscher Sekt and is made from 100% German grapes/wine.

Geographic classification for Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein

There are four levels of geographic classification, and any level of classification can be used on the label of Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein:
The names of Großlagen and Einzellagen are always used together with the name of a wine village, because some Einzellage names, such as Schlossberg are used in several villages. Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell a Großlage from an Einzellage just by looking at the wine label. A few examples of how the names appear on labels:
There are a few exceptions to the rule that a village must be indicated together with the vineyard name, those are a handful of historical vineyards known as Ortsteil im sinne des Weingesetzes. Examples are Schloss Johannisberg in Rheingau and Scharzhofberg along the Saar. They are of the same size as a typical Einzellage and could be thought of as Einzellagen which were so famous that they were excused from displaying the village name.

Labels

Unlike French wine labels, where key information about the grape variety is not included in the labeling and thus must be known by the consumer to make an informed choice, German wine labels must display much more important information about the wine. It must always include:
  1. Geographic information with either the country, the city or the exact site of the wine.
  2. The variety of grape used and whether the wine is mix of grapes.
  3. The EU law quality level of the wine.
  4. The year of grape harvest.
  5. Whether it is dry, semi-dry or sweet.
  6. The wine maker.
  7. If the wine is sparkling
  8. Any other special information about the quality level.
Due to the amount of information the label some non-professionals and many consumers find German wine labels to be harder to understand than French or US labels. , MSNBC Life Style editor describes German wine labels as a "thicket of exotic words and abbreviations" that require "the vinous equivalent of Cliff notes to parse.".

Required Information

law regulates that at least six items of information be present on the label.
German wine domaines/"châteaux" are often called "Kloster", "Schloss", "Burg", "Domaine" or "Weingut" followed by some other name.
The first number relates to the German wine region where the wine was produced and tested '. The second 2 or 3 digit number indicates the village of the vineyard ). The next two digits represents the particular wine estate '. The following 2 to 3 digit number is the sequential order that the wine was submitted by that producer for testing '. The final two digits is the year of the testing, which is normally the year following the vintage '.
German wine labels may also include
In recent years, the official classification has been criticised by many of the top producers, and additional classifications have been set down by wine growers' organisations such as VDP, without enjoying legal protection. The two main reasons for criticism are that the official classification does not differentiate between better and lesser vineyards and that the quality levels are less appropriate to high-quality dry wines.