For a long time I have been working for a big German winegrower/bodega who, just like me, values quality and prefers to have the wines tasted by their clients before selling them. Most of you will probably know that Germany has high quality standards when it comes to the production of foodstuffs, such as the "Reinheitsgebot" for the production of beer. A kind of mandatory hygiene protocol for the natural production of this barley drink. Incidentally, only Germany has created this obligation for beer. In the Netherlands, only Grolsch Beer is produced according to the Reinheitsgebot on a voluntary basis. To help the wine lovers amongst you to discover Germany wine wise, my article this time is about this beautiful wine country. Germany did not have such a good name in the Netherlands when it came to wines. Largely due to the fact that in supermarkets for decades only the cheapest versions were on sale with a headache guarantee for the next day...
To make it clear to the consumer what kind of quality he/she is dealing with, a quality ladder has been created so that one can immediately see what kind of meat is in the tub. These quality indications must be stated on the label;
1. Deutscher Tafelwein:
There are 5 large "table wine regions" in Germany. The requirements for producing table wine are the least strict. 100% of the grapes from which these wines are made must come from Germany, of which at least 75% must come from the region indicated on the label.
2.Deutscher Landwein:
There are 20 Landwein regions in Germany. The region of origin must be stated on the label and the grapes from which this wine is made must originate 100% from this region. These wines contain a maximum of 18 grams of sugar per liter and are therefore always dry or semi-dry.
Now we are moving towards quality...
3.QbA (Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete):
In terms of wine production, Germany is subdivided into 13 wine-growing regions, the so-called "Anbaugebiete". These then consist of a total of 39 districts (Bereiche), which in turn are made up of 152 merged vineyards (Grosslagen). Ultimately we can speak of around 2600 individual vineyards (Einzellagen).
With a QbA wine, at least the Anbaugebiete (wine-growing region) must be stated on the label and the grapes from which the wine is made must originate 100% from this region. In the case of a bad harvest year in which the grapes have not been able to build up enough sugars, at this type of wine may be added sugar "anreichern". The harvest takes place about 100 days after flowering, so somewhere in September/October.
Because we only made "first pressing" wines of very high quality, we crushed the grapes instead of actually pressing them. This was to prevent excessive tannins (these are in particular in the seeds, shells and stems, and if you squeeze these as a minimum, there will be less in the wine) in the juice from the grapes. Therefore we needed relatively many kilos of grapes to produce one liter of wine. In our case we used about 4 to 5 kilos of grapes to make a liter of QbA wine.
4.QmP (Qualitätswein mit Prädikat)
In the case of a QmP wine, at least the Bereich (district) where the wine comes from must be stated on the label and no one is allowed to go wrong on that. The higher the sugar content, the higher the potential alcohol content (sugar is converted into carbon dioxide and alcohol during fermentation), the higher the Prädikat. QmP wines are again subdivided into 6 subcategories;
1. Kabinett:
The harvest for making Kabinett wine takes place about 14 days after the first harvest. The grapes have been hanging in the sun longer and therefore the water in the grape has evaporated a bit more and therefore there are relatively more sugars present. We used to make this 2nd harvest wines around 6 to 7 kilos of grapes per liter.
2. Spätlese:
The third harvest will take place 10 days after the Kabinett harvest. We speak of a "Spätlese" (spät = late and lese = picking, literally translated so "late picking"). During this harvest, even more water has evaporated from the grapes and the sugar content is even higher. We therefore used no less than 9 kilo grapes per liter.
3. Auslese:
Just before and during the spätlese harvest, the overripe grapes are cut manually and this is what we use to make Auslese (auserlesenen = the “chosen ones”). Some of the grapes already show traces of the so-called noble rotting (Edelfäule). The skins are perforated as a result of which the water juices out and the sugars remain behind. In our case, that represented 12 kilos of grapes/liter.
4. Beerenauslese:
If we leave the grapes hanging until they have the size of berries and then pick them, then we can use them for making Beerenauslese (beeren is the German word for berries). Virtually no water is present in these grapes. That is also the reason why we needed no less than 90 kilos of it to make 1 liter of wine.
5. Eiswein
Sometimes the grapes are left to hang until a night frost of about 19 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit comes on. If that is the case, all the alarm bells in the small villages go off and everyone helps to immediately pick the grapes and press them on the spot (on land). Because the water is frozen at this temperature but the sugars are not, 110 kilos of grapes/liter.
6. Trockenbeerenauslese:
If we dry the grapes from the beerensauslese harvest before pressing them, we get raisins from which there is hardly anything to squeeze. However, the result is the highest attainable in the German wine world and is called Trockenbeerenauslese. 130 kilos of grapes/kilo.
So, the higher the step on the quality ladder, the less water there is in the grapes, and the higher the concentration of sugars. We can therefore say that the higher the sugar content in the grape, the better the quality of the wine. The less water there was in the grapes, the more kilos of grapes are needed to make a liter of wine. And that is precisely the reason why quality wines are more expensive. A bottle of Beerenauslese can easily cost 40 to 50 dollars and comes in a bottle of 37.5 cl. instead of 75 cl. Wines to enjoy at a special moment...
With German wines, you can simply assume the following rule;
The more extensive the information on the label, the more exclusive the wine.
Zum wohl!
Roel Peters RP-Vinos USA
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