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Wines Around the World
Germany
Germany is almost the international capitol of white
wine. The few red wines that are produced there are
rarely exported. Most of the German wines we know and
that have gained this country its praise are based on
the Riesling grape. Unfortunately for Germany, many
Americans first tried Riesling from California, which
really is not that great. Usually with California's
long warm growing season, Riesling grapes become very
sweet, and thus the wine was too sweet for the American
palate. Another strike against Germany's wine is the
1970's surge of Liebfraumilch, a somewhat sweet wine
that was briefly in vogue. This gained Germany the reputation
for having nothing but sweet wine, which is untrue.
The German label is also tough to decipher…so here
is a little help.
Government designations:
Tafelwein: is the lowest level of quality in German
wine.
Qualitatswein bestimmte Anbaugebiete (QbA): Middle
quality wine
Qualitatswein mit Pradikat (QmP): Highest quality wine
Among the QmP wines, there are descriptions to help
you know your wine even better. These are listed from
driest to sweetest:
Kabinett- normal, fully ripe grapes (9.5% minimum potential
alcohol)
Spatlese- "late harvested" grapes, which may
produce slightly sweet wine
Auslese- individually selected, very ripe bunches used
to make sweet wine
Beerenauslese-individually selected, very ripe grapes
(berries) used to make very sweet desert wine
Trockenbeerenauslese- individually selected, botrytis
afflicted grapes used to make the sweetest, most expensive
desert wines.
Troken means dry
Halbtroken means half dry
Germany has two major growing regions, both along major
rivers. The Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region runs along the Mosel
River and its two tributaries. The other is the Rhine
region, made up of three regions; Rheingau, Rheinhessen,
and Rheinphaltz.
The Riesling grape is the top grape in both regions.
Fine Mosel Rieslings tend toward mineral and citrus
notes; Rhine is usually richer, with apricot-like fruit.
These rival areas distinguish themselves with different
colored bottles- bright green for Mosel, brown for Rhines.
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