Germany Flashcards
(314 cards)
The northerly winemaking regions of Germany straddle what parallel?
the 50th parallel, amongst the world’s coolest vineyards.
The Cistercians of Burgundy founded what famous monastery in the Rheingau in 1136?
Kloster Eberbach monastery, where they amassed the largest vineyard holdings in Europe by the end of the Middle Ages
What vineyard remains an alleinbesitz of Kloster Eberbach for over eight centuries?
The walled Steinberg vineyard, an ortsteil within the commune of Hattenheim, was the monks’ centerpiece and remains wholly intact today
What is an an alleinbesitz?
monopole
What is an ortsteil?
district
What did Napolean establish in the late 18th Century?
his Civil Code, annexing all German lands west of the Rhine for France in the late 18th century
What happened in 1803 to all of the Church’s vineyard holdings in Germany?
were secularized
Where did Kloster Eberbach end up after being dissolved as a monastery?
in the hands of the state-run Hessische Staatsweingüter after World War II
What led to the vineyard organization and registration mandated by the German Wine Law of 1971?
the Napoleonic Code led to fractured ownership and a gradual, significant splintering of vineyards. By the 1960s, there were over 30,000 different vineyard sites throughout West Germany!
What did the German Wine Law of 1971 split up?
30,000 einzellagen were condensed in bureaucratic fashion into 2,600 registered vineyards, each with a minimum size of 5 hectares.
What are the few exceptions to the mandated minimum size of vineyards by the German Wine Law of 1971?
- Doctor vineyard in Bernkastel
- Kirchenstück and Freundstück vineyards in Forst
- Schloss Vollrads ortsteil vineyard in Rheingau
What are the country’s current most planted white and red varieties?
Riesling and Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir)
What does the “discovery” of Spätlese harvesting and the Auslese category date back to?
Spätlese- 1775
Auslese- 1787
What were the best wines produced along the Rhine called in English markets in the 19th century?
Hock
What Institute developed a number of hardier grape crossings that would ripen in greater abundance across a variety of sites?
The Geisenheim Wine Institute in the Rheingau, founded in 1872
What is Müller-Thurgau a cross of?
Originally thought to be Riesling x Silvaner, more recent DNA testing has proven Riesling x Madeleine Royale
What is Ehrenfelser a crossing of?
Riesling x Sylvaner
What is Kerner a crossing of?
Trollinger (a red variety also known as Schiava grossa or Vernatsch) and Riesling
What crossings are more notable for their ability to ripen where Riesling cannot?
Bacchus and Faber
The Bacchus grape is a crossing of what?
a Silvaner x Riesling cross with Müller-Thurgau
What Riesling x Silvaner crossing developed in the Rheinhessen, is one of the few to show real quality potential?
Scheurebe
The Faber grape is a crossing of what?
Pinot blanc and Müller-Thurgau
What s the most prominent German red crossing and is currently the country’s second most planted red grape?
Dornfelder, bred in 1956
What problems attacked the German wine industry in the late 19th century?
Phylloxera, The root louse, mildew problems, a huge depression, and two devastating world wars