Understanding a German Wine Label
It’s easy to be turned off from buying a wine when the label is hard to understand. This certainly seems to be the case when it comes to buying German wine. The good news is, Germany as a wine producing country is actually fairly easy to understand. They have laws in place that keep things straightforward. The tricky part is learning all of those laws. Hopefully this article will help make buying German wine easier.
Some quick facts:
Germany is the northern most country in which wine can grow.
Germany is the third largest producer of Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder).
Germany produces dry Riesling (imagine that)!
Six points to understanding the label
1. Producer’s Name
Generally the family’s name proceeded by “Weingut” which simply means estate or winery. There is a surge of more modern labels for the export market.
2. Wine Region
There are 13 designated wine regions in Germany. Single vineyard wines will also give the name of the vineyard, proceeded by the name of the town (Example: Westhofener Morstein). The starred regions are more commonly found in the States.
Ahr
Baden
Franken
Hessische Bergstrasse
Mittelrhein
*Mosel
*Nahe
*Pfalz
*Rheingau
*Reinhessen
Saale-Unstrut
Sachsen
Württemberg
3. Grape Varietal
Below are a few of the more common varietals found in Germany. By law the labeled variety must be at least 85% of the wine.
White:
Riesling: The most noble grape varietal
Müller-Thurgau: Cross of Riesling and Chasselas
Silvaner: Cross of Traminer and Österreichisch Weiss
Grauburgunder: Pinot Gris (literally: gray Burgundy)
Weißburgunder: Pinot Blanc (literally: white Burgundy)
Scheurebe: Riesling and an unknown wild vine
Red:
Spätburgunder: Pinot Noir (literally: late burgundy)
Blauer Portugieser: Often made into a rosé
Dornfelder: Cross between Helfensteiner & Heroldrebe
4. Ripeness & Classifaction
This is where it gets a bit tricky. There are basically two ways to classify German wine: Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein. Within Germany there is also Landwein & Tafelwein, but you won’t see any of that here. Of the two (Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein) I would argue that one is not better than the other. Prädikatswein simply states a designation of when the grapes were picked. Knowing this gives you an idea into the sweetness of the wine, but not a rule. The sweetness is better determined by the alcohol percentage. This gives you an idea on the amount of sugar that was fermented out of the wine. Since chaptalization (adding sugar to the must) is not allowed with Prädikatswein, I find this to be a better indicator. It’s certainly possible to have a dry Spätlese, for example.
Levels of Prädikatswein
Kabinett: main harvest, dry to semi-sweet
Spätlese: late harvest, dry to semi-sweet
Auslese: select harvest, sweet
Beerenauslese: select berry harvest, dessert wine
Eiswein: ice wine, dessert wine
Trockenbeerenauslese: dry berry selection, sweet dessert wine
If you see “Qualitätswein” on the label, it must come from one of the 13 wine-growing regions. The rules for these wines are lower but doesn’t make for a lesser product. It is not uncommon for a producer to release a Qualitätswein that actually meets all the requirements to be a Spätlese. Because of the heavy trend towards dry wines in Germany, it’s more difficult to sell a Spätlese trocken than a Qualitätswein trocken. That term Spätlese just seems to make people think of sugar.
5. Sweetness of Wine
Sometimes the sweetness of wine will be indicated on the bottle with either Prädikatswein or Qualitätswein.
Trocken: Dry, maxium residual sugar of 9 grams per liter
Halbtrocken: Half-dry, maxium residual sugar of 18 grams per liter
Feinherb: Off-dry, generally high acid wines that cancel out their higher residual sugar
Lieblich: Semi-sweet, maxium residual sugar of 45 grams per liter
Süß: Sweet, more than 45 grams per liter of residual sugar
6. Other terms you may see:
Gutsabfüllung: Estate bottled
Enthält Sulfite: Contains sulfites
A.P. Nr.: Quality control number
G.G.: Grosses Gewächs (you’ve found a Great Growth!)
It could be argued that if you simply find the bottle with the VDP logo, you’re safe when it comes to buying quality German wine. The logo of the eagle with a grape cluster at it’s center can be found on the capsule of the bottle. The VDP (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter) is an assciation of top growers in Germany with less than 200 members. Of course, there are many great producers that don’t sport this logo.
Cheers! Or as they say – zum Wohl! Here’s to drinking more German wine.