About Our Wines
Sweet, Medium & Dry
From 1971 onwards, German wine labels incorporate the following words and phrases:
TAFELWEIN - Ordinary table wine.
SEKT - Sparkling wine made in Germany.
PRÄDIKAT SEKT - The same made from
at least 60% German wine.
EISWEIN - Wine made of grapes which were
frozen during the harvest and pressing
(rare and usually very sweet.)
TROCKEN - Dry (with not more than 4 grammes
per litre of unfermented sugar).
AUS EIGENEM LESEGUT or
ERZEUGER ABFÜLLUNG - From the producer's
own estate.
EIGENE ABFÜLLUNG - Bottled by the producer.
WEINKELLEREI - Wine cellar.
WINZERGENOSSENSCHAFT - Wine growers'
co-operative.
WINZERVEREIN
PRÜF. - NR. - (followed by figures) The wine's
test number.
QUALITÄTSWEIN - Superior table wine subject to certain controls.
QUALITÄTSWEIN MIT PRÄDIKAT - Strictly controlled top-quality wine.
KABINETT - The basic grade of Qualitätswein mit Prädikat.
SPÄTLESE - Wine made from late-gathered and therefore riper grapes
(better than Kabinett)
AUSLESE - Spätlese from which all unripe grapes have been rejected.
BEERENAUSLESE - Made from only the ripest grapes.
TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE - Made from grapes which have shrivelled,
either from very late gathering or ''noble rot''.
ROTWEIN - Red wine
WEISSWEIN - White wine
ROSEEWEIN or WEISSHERBST - Pink wine made from red grapes.
SCHILLERWEIN - The same as Rotling (from Wüttemberg).
ROTLING - Pink wine made from red and white grapes mixed.
PERLWEIN - Slightly sparkling wine.
SCHAUMWEIN - Sparkling wine.
Spatlese: minimum must-weight of 85 (Mosel 76).
Auslese: minimum must-weight of about 90.
Beerenauslese: minimum must-weight of about 120.
Trockenbeerenauslese: minimum about 150. (Weights vary by area and grape variety.)
At the same time the new law reduced the number of individual vineyards in Germany from the 30,000 in the old lad register to a considerably more manageable number. The process of doing so caused a vast upheaval in the German wine world, for in addition to forgetting many favourite old names and learning (admittedly fewer) new ones, wine lovers will have to become more or less familiar with the concepts of Gebeit, Bereich and Grosslage.
A Gebeit is simply a wine-growing region - e.g. Nahe, Rhinepfalz.
A Bereich is a smaller district within a Gebeit.
The third sub-division is a Grosslage: an area formed by a number of neighbouring vineyards (whether in the same village or not) and called by the name of the best-known of them. It is important to distinguish this from a ''site'' (Einzellage) : one individual vineyard. Site names will continue to be carried by all the top-class wines from the best growers.
*The number of grammes by which one litre of must is heavier than one litre of distilled water.
German wine laws do not classify vineyards as the French do. Any vineyard in Germany can in theory produce top-class wine. Instead they specify exactly what degree of sugar the must (crushed grapes) should contain to qualify for each classification.
New laws made in 1971 lay down three basic grades of quality, wherever in Germany the wine comes from. They are :
Tafelwein - The most ordinary, which need not attain any particular strength or come from any particular place or grape. It is not allowed to use a vineyard name.
Qualitätswein - Must come from a particular region (Gebiet), from certain grape varieties, attain a certain must-weight* (60, which would give 7½% natural alcohol before adding sugar), and carry a test number.
Qualitätswein mit Prädikat - The grade for the traditional top wines which do not use sugar-and thus in practice can only be made in good years when the grapes are really ripe. Their must -weight has to be 73 (the equivalent of 9½% alcohol), their grapes of certain varieties ; they must come from particular area (Bereich), carry a test number and may not be sugared.
Within the last grade the traditional classifications by sweetness of the top wines are given exact meanings. They are :
Kabinett: minimum must-weight of 73 (or 70 in certain cold areas like the Mosel).
