Germany Flashcards
(145 cards)
What area of land is planted with vines in Germany; what is production?
Total area planted is around 100.000 ha; 64% is white wine (comparing to 87% in 1985); total production of 9.25 million hectoliters.
What are most planted Germany White Varieties?
Riesling is most planted with 22.5%; then Müller-Thurgau with 13%; follows Silvaner; Grauburgunder; and Weißburgunder in the range of 4-5%.
What are most planted Germany Red Varieties?
Spätburgunder is the most planted red variety with 11.5%; follows Dornfelder with 8%; Portugieser 4%; and Trollinger 2.5%.
What German regions are found in climatic zone A?
All German wine-growing regions except Baden.
What is Amtliche Prufungsnumer (A.P.Nr.)?
The Amtliche Prufungsnumer (control number) which each label carries is in five sets; example: 2 607 030 07 06;
The first set identifies the examining panel: in this case the 2 represents Bernkastel; the second block 607 identifies where the wine was bottled; the third 030 is the official number of the bottle; the fourth 07 identifies this as seventh bottling of the year; and the final number 06 is the year the wine was tested. This nuber is often; but not always; one year after the wine was made.
What is Prädikat?
The different Prädikat designations differ in terms of the required must weight; the sugar content of the grape juice; and the level required is dependent on grape variety and wine-growing region and is defined in terms of the Oechsle scale. In fact the must weight is seen as a rough indicator of quality (and price).
What are requirements for Kabinett?
(67-85 Oechsle) Term for a wine which is made from fully ripened grapes of the main harvest; typically picked in September; and in theory it should be the lightest Prädikatswein;
Kabinett wine is semi-sweet (lieblich) by default; but may be dry (trocken) or off-dry (halbtrocken) if designated so.
What are requirements for Spätlese?
Meaning “late harvest” (76-95 Oechsle); The grapes are picked at least 7 days after normal harvest; so they are riper and have a higher must weight.;
As both QbA and Kabinett are produced from grapes that have not fully ripened; Spätlese can more accurately be seen as the first level of German wine to be produced from ripe grapes.
Not necessarily sweet.
What are requirements for Auslese?
This means ‘selective harvest’ (83-105 Oechsle); The grapes are picked from selected very ripe bunches in the autumn (late November-early December).
Some of the grapes may have been attacked by Botrytis Cinerea to give Edelfaule (noble rot).
Resulting wines are sweeter but sometimes they will be made in the dry style Trocken.
What are requirements for Beerenauslese?
Selected grapes’ (110-128 Oechsle); The grapes are generally dehydrated by botrytis; produced in very small quantities.
With no chaptalization; this means that the wine has a minimum potential strength of between 15.3 and 18.1 percent by volume; but only 5.5 percent need actually be alcohol; with residual sugar accounting for the rest.
What German regions are found in climatic zone B?
Baden
What are requirements for Trockenbeerenauslese?
Dried up selected berries (150-154 Oechsle); Made only in exceptional years; when Edelfaule has affected the grapes and they have been left to shrivel up on the vine.
In comparison to Sauternes; the wines are considerably sweeter; have a lower alcoholic strength and are usually not oaked.
Dessert wine.
What are requirements for Eiswein?
Made from grapes which have been left on the vine well into winter; and have been frozen prior to picking.
The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze; but the water does; allowing a more concentrated grape must to be pressed from the frozen grapes; resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated; very sweet wine.
What is Bereich?
This is a district within an Anbaugebiet spanning many parishes and vineyards which all produce wine with similar characteristics; for example Bereich Bernkastel.
What is Gemeinde?
A German word for “community” or “village.” On German wine labels the name of the Gemeinde (appended with an er; which converts it to an adjective) precedes that of the Grosslage or Einzellage.
For example; the Einzellage named Mäuerchen associated with the village named Geisenheim appears on the label as “Geisenheimer Mäuerchen”; the Grosslage named Auflangen associated with the town of Nierstein appears as “Niersteiner Auflangen.”
What is Grosslage?
This is the name for a collection of vineyard sites; for example Rosengarten for the vineyards surrounding Rudesheim in the Nahe.
What is Einzellage?
This is an individual vineyard site. The names of these sites are only permitted to be used on the label of QbA and Pradikatswein wines.
What is “Classic”?
It must be dry in taste (not stated on the label); the RS content can be twice as high as the acidity; up to a maximum of 15 grams per liter; finished wines have at least 12% ABV (Mosel 11.5%).;
It must be made from a traditional grape varietiety; and originate from one region which must be noted on the label along with the name of the producer. No vineyard name on label. ;
Classic wines are made exclusively from one grape variety - with one exception: a Trollinger-Lemberger cuvée is permitted in Württemberg.
What is “Selection”?
Selection was also introduced in 2000. In addition to the criteria for Classic wine; the grapes must be a single varietal; hand-picked and from one vineyard site; all of which must be noted on the label; and it must be at least 12.2 per cent ABV.
There are restrictions on yield and the wine may not be released until the September of the year following the harvest. Yields max. 60 hl/ha.
Up to 9 grams per liter RS; except Riesling where RS can be 1.5 times as high as the acidity; up to a maximum of 12 grams per liter.
What is The Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP)?
National German association of producers committed to top quality wine production founded in 1910 which promotes their wines through a new; three-tier hierarchy and a more restrictive classification of einzellagen than the government provides.
Traditional Prädikat level sweet wines will still be produced on these sites but are not part of the VDP classification.
What is the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter three tier classification?
At the top is Grosse Gewächs followed by Klassifizierte Lagenweine (Ortsweine/Terroirwein) and at the bottom are Gutsweine.
What are Grosse Gewächs?
Hand-harvested single vineyards with a maximum yield of 50 hl/ha. The required minimum must weight is equivalent to Spätlese;
They are legally considered trocken and may not contain more than 9 g/l of residual sugar.
Terms such as “Grosses Gewächs” do not actually appear on the label “GG” is used in its place.
In addition to the Erste Lage logo; capsules on all member estates’ bottles must show the VDP logo.
What is Klassifizierte Lagenweine / Ortsweine / Terroirwein?
Yields for these wines rise to 65 hl/ha; and minimum must weight and approved grape varietals are determined by region.
Ortsweine are wines from specific regions or villages—but not grosslagen or bereiche ; as the VDP has forbidden the use of these terms from member estates’ labels.
No restrictions on the taste profile (may be dry or sweet)
What is Gutsweine?
These wines are designed to reflect an estate’s basic house style; and are comprised of traditional grapes from the each region.
Grapes destined for Gutsweine are permitted a maximum yield of 75 hl/ha. and have a higher must weight than that prescribed by law
