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German wine classification

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The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented by the German Wine Law of 1971. Nearly all of Germany's vineyards are delineated and registered as one of approximately 2,600 Einzellagen ('individual sites'), and the produce from any vineyard can be used to make German wine at any quality level, as long as the must weight of the grapes reaches the designated minimum level. As the current German system does not classify vineyards by quality, the measure of wine ’quality’ is the ripeness of the grapes alone.

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27-639: Approximately 200 wine makers have been organised since 1910 in the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP). To counter the shortcomings of the 1971 law, the VDP nowadays classifies the best vineyards by its own rules into 'VDP.Grosse Lage' ( Grand cru ) and 'VDP.Erste Lage' ( Premier cru ) based on 19th century Prussian tax maps. Most of these wine makers are based in the regions of Mosel , Pfalz , and Franken . The classification of wines has been reorganized since 1 August 2009 by

54-527: A sweet dessert wine rather than a semi-sweet wine. These designations are all unregulated. There are also a number of specialty and regional wines, considered as special version of some quality category. Here are some of them: There are two classes for wines with official status in all 13 Anbaugebiete and one regional class in Rheinhessen and the Rheingau, respectively. The geographic classification

81-509: Is an American wine and food writer, and since 2020 the managing editor of Resy . Formerly he was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle starting in 2006, and senior contributing editor for Punch . He has been a wine columnist for msnbc.com and Seattle Magazine , and has written for publications such as Food & Wine , The New York Times , The Art of Eating , Saveur and Decanter . Bonné wrote for

108-541: Is different for Landwein, Deutscher Wein, Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein. There are seven Deutscher Wein regions: Rhein-Mosel, Bayern, Neckar, Oberrhein, Albrechtsburg, Stargarder Land and Niederlausitz. These are divided into a number of subregions, which in turn are divided into 19 Landwein regions (and must be trocken or halbtrocken in style). (There is no Landwein region for Franken.) Names of individual vineyards are not used for Deutscher Wein or Landwein. Deutscher Wein must be 100% German in origin, or specifically state on

135-408: Is divided into two types: The different Prädikat (superior quality wine) designations used are as follows, in order of increasing sugar levels in the must: The minimum must weight requirements for the different Prädikat designations are as follows. Many producers, especially top-level producers, exceed the minimum requirements by a wide margin. This does not necessarily determine the sweetness of

162-420: Is the sequential order that the wine was submitted by that producer for testing (e.g. 031 – this was the 31st wine submitted by Kloster Eberbach for testing) . The final two digits is the year of the testing, which is normally the year following the vintage (e.g. 04 – the wine was tested in 2004) . German wine labels may also include In recent years, the official classification has been criticised by many of

189-770: The Association of Food Journalists . In 2013, Bonné began writing a column for Decanter , and was named the USA Regional Chair for the Decanter World Wine Awards. In March 2015, he left a full-time position as the Chronicle's wine editor, and joined Punch . He published his first book, The New California Wine, in November 2013. The book was based in part on a 2010 article he wrote for Saveur and reflected his years of work at

216-660: The Chronicle , as a transplant from the East Coast in 2006, confronting what at the time he found to be "the shortfalls of California wine: a ubiquity of oaky, uninspired bottles and a presumption that bigger was indeed better." It defined a new generation of California winemakers as those with "an enthusiasm for lessons learned from the Old World, but not the desire to replicate its wines; a mandate to seek out new grape varieties and regions; and, perhaps most important, an ardent belief that place matters." The New California Wine

243-602: The Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates, is an association of more than 200 wineries in Germany that promotes binding quality standards and – since 1990 – also ecological management of its members' wineries. Many of Germany's top wine producers are members. It is commonly known by its abbreviation VDP . It was founded in 1910 as Verband Deutscher Naturweinversteigerer e.V. , Association of German Natural (i.e. not chaptalized ) Wine Auctioneers. Founding members were

270-541: The EU wine market organization. The traditional German wine classification remained mostly unchanged, as the European system follows the origin-related system like in Germany and most areas of France ( AOC ). The already existing protection of geographical indication was transmitted through this step as well to the wine classification. There are two major categories of German wine : table and "quality" wine. Table wine includes

297-402: The book as "a tour through every wine region of France, featuring some 800 producers and more than 7,000 wines." In a column, The New York Times ' chief wine critic Eric Asimov wrote that it was "not a reference book, but something better: an opinionated, thought-provoking work that uses wine as a vehicle for cultural history," and that "Mr. Bonné has done a beautiful job shining the light" on

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324-596: The book relied too much on broad, sweeping generalizations of the wine industry and that the trend had been an ongoing process for years. In September 2014, it won the Louis Roederer award for International Wine Book of the Year. It was also shortlisted for the Andre Simon awards for food and drink books, and for a James Beard Award. Bonné's second book, The New Wine Rules , was published in November 2017. It

351-526: The designations Deutscher Wein (previously Tafelwein) and Landwein . Unlike the supposed equivalents of " Vin de Table " / " Vino da Tavola " and " Indicazione Geografica Tipica " / " Vin de Pays ", production levels are not high, and these wines are typically exported to the United States. In 2005, Tafelwein and Landwein only accounted for 3.6% of total production. In Baden, there is a growing trend to release high-end wines as Landwein . Quality wine

378-400: The final wine, because the winemaker may choose to ferment the wine fully or let some residual sugar remain. In certain regions, additional rules are applied to how a wine is classified. These special names represent special characters. The sugar content in the finished wine can be indicated by the following designations for Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein. For sparkling wines (Sekt), many of

405-538: The four regional associations It consists of 11 regional associations, one for each region in the German wine classification system. In order to be a VDP member, a wine estate must adhere to certain standards which are slightly more stringent than those set down in the German wine law. VDP members may (and almost always do) use the VDP logotype , a stylized eagle with a cluster of grapes , on their wine bottles. Also,

432-542: The label where grapes were sourced from within the European Union. Sparkling wine produced at the Deutscher Wein level is often labeled as Deutscher Sekt and is made from 100% German grapes/wine. There are four levels of geographic classification, and any level of classification can be used on the label of Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein: The names of Großlagen and Einzellagen are always used together with

459-481: The label. German wine domaines/" châteaux " are often called "Kloster", "Schloss", "Burg", "Domaine" or "Weingut" followed by some other name. The first number (1–9) relates to the German wine region where the wine was produced and tested (e.g. 3-Rheingau) . The second 2 or 3 digit number indicates the village of the vineyard (e.g. 30- Rauenthal )) . The next two digits represents the particular wine estate (e.g. 50-Kloster Eberbach) . The following 2 to 3 digit number

486-781: The members adopted a sparkling wine classification that, like the wine classification, defines quality according to origin and provides for aging on the lees as an additional quality criterion. Accordingly, the focus is on origin with the qualitatively increasing levels of VDP-Gutssekt, VDP-Ortssekt, VDP-Erste Lage and VDP-Große Lage. The technology of bottle fermentation is mandatory. Estate and local sparkling wines must lie on their lees for at least 15 months, site sparkling wines and all vintage sparkling wines for at least 36 months. (As of 2019 ): Ahr : Baden : Hessische Bergstraße : Mittelrhein : Mosel : Nahe : Rheingau : Rheinhessen : Palatinate : Saale-Unstrut : Saxony : Württemberg : Jon Bonn%C3%A9 Jon Bonné

513-546: The members have access to the new VDP-specific classifications Erste Lage and Grosses Gewächs for top dry wines that fulfill the requirements. VDP and its regional associations also arrange German wine auctions and various marketing events. Especially in the Mosel region , where the regional VDP association is known as Grosser Ring , several well-renowned wine estates are instead members of Bernkasteler Ring , which arranges similar auctions and marketing events. In July 2018,

540-504: The name of a wine village, because some Einzellage names, such as Schlossberg (castle hill) are used in several villages. Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell a Großlage from an Einzellage just by looking at the wine label. A few examples of how the names appear on labels: There are a few exceptions to the rule that a village must be indicated together with the vineyard name, those are a handful of historical vineyards known as Ortsteil im sinne des Weingesetzes (village name in sense of

567-612: The pioneering Urban Desires webzine in the mid-1990s. Prior to his engagement as San Francisco Chronicle wine editor, Bonné published the now defunct wine and food blog, amuse-bouche.net since 2004. He received awards from the James Beard Foundation for his Chronicle work in 2011 and 2007, and has been a Beard finalist for his writing nine other times. He also has won the Roederer Award numerous times for his wine writing, as well as several awards from

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594-429: The same designations are used, but have a different meaning. There are also color designations that can be used on the label: Some producers also use additional propriate designations to denote quality or ripeness level within a Prädikat. These are outside the scope of the German wine law. Especially for Auslese, which can cover a wide range of sweetness levels, the presence of any of these designations tends to indicate

621-463: The top producers, and additional classifications have been set down by wine growers' organisations such as VDP, without enjoying legal protection. The two main reasons for criticism are that the official classification does not differentiate between better and lesser vineyards and that the quality levels are less appropriate to high-quality dry wines. Verband Deutscher Pr%C3%A4dikatsweing%C3%BCter Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter e.V. or

648-562: The wine law). Examples are Schloss Johannisberg in Rheingau and Scharzhofberg along the Saar. They are of the same size as a typical Einzellage and could be thought of as Einzellagen which were so famous that they were excused from displaying the village name. Unlike French wine labels, where key information about the grape variety is not included in the labeling and thus must be known by the consumer to make an informed choice, German wine labels must display much more important information about

675-437: The wine. It must always include: Due to the amount of information the label some non-professionals and many consumers find German wine labels to be harder to understand than French or US labels. Jon Bonné describes German wine labels as a "thicket of exotic words and abbreviations" that require "the vinous equivalent of Cliff notes to parse." German wine law regulates that at least six items of information be present on

702-454: Was a more entry-level wine book, and was again generally well-received as "a myth-busting guidebook" of basic wine advice. The New York Times wrote that Bonné had succeeded "in extracting the answers from decades of overwrought expert instruction and presenting them in a clear, easygoing manner." Bonné's third book, The New French Wine , was released in March 2023. His publisher described

729-493: Was generally well received. The New York Times wrote that "Mr. Bonné has been positioned perfectly to observe the profound pendulum swing in style and attitude that has occurred among California winemakers over the last decade." In the Financial Times , Jancis Robinson wrote that the types of wines in the book "presented a completely different and refreshing face of America’s wine state." One writer concluded that

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