Wine Laws in Germany | German Wine Quality System

There are two levels of  Quality Wine and two levels of Table Wine in Germany

Pradikatswein Formerly Qualitatswein mit Pradikat (QmP)
  • The grapes must come from a single Bereich, a district within an Anbaugebiet (Quality Region)
  • Chaptalisation is not permitted
  • Sussreserve (unfermented and sterile grape juice) can be used to sweeten wine
  • There are 6 different styles of Pradikatswein based on the grape sugar level at harvest time
Pradikatswein – Kabinett
  • The most delicate Pradikatswein wines
  • Usually made for aperitifs.
Pradikatswein – Spatlese
  • Wines made of late harvest grapes, and
  • have more concentrated flavors
  • may or may not be sweeter than a Kabinett style
Pradikatswein – Auslese
  • Wines made of individually selected extra-ripe bunches of grapes
  • May be a dry or sweet wine
Pradikatswein – Beerenauslese (BA)
Pradikatswein – Eiswein
  • literally ice wine
  • made from grapes that have been left on the vine until the weather is cold enough to freeze the water in the grapes
  • after the grapes are crushed, the frozen water will be removed to leave a concentrated sugary syrup
  • the sugar content of the syrup must be at least equivalent to the grape juice used to make beerenauslese (BA) wines
  • grapes are usually not botrytis-affected
  • sweet wines with intensely pure fruit flavors and very high level of acidity.
Pradikatswein - Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA)
  • Wines made only in the finest vintages and in minute quantities
  • made from individual grapes that have been seriously affected by noble rot
  • grapes will potentially give an alcohol level of 21.5% but wines rarely have more than 8% abv of actual alcohol. Therefore, a lot of residual sugar will be left in the wines.
  • grapes must not be harvested mechanically
  • sweet wines
Qualitatswein bestimmer Anbaugebiete(QbA)
  • Wines must come from one of the 13 designated quality wine regions
  • blending with wines from other regions is not allowed
  • the wine label must state the region of production and indicates the wine style
  • The wine must have a natural alcohol content of at least 7%
  • chaptalisation is permitted
Landwein
  • Region of production must be shown on the wine labels. There are 19 regions qualified to this category.
  • The wines must be trocken (dry) or halbtrocken (0ff-dry)
  • Natural alcohol must be at least 0.5% higher than Tafelwein stated below
  • chaptalisation is permitted
Deutscher Tafelwein
  • Region of production may be shown on the wine label but the wine must come from one of the five designated regions.
  • must reach a natural alcohol level of 5%(6% for Baden)
  • chaptalisation is permitted

Geographical Classification

Einzellage
  • an individual vineyard
  • this is the most important geographical classification for German quality wines
  • wines with this classification are normally very high in quality
Grosslage
  • a group of adjoining vineyards
  • since the wine label will not tell you whether the wine comes from an Einzellage or a Grosslage, consumers have to memorize names of hundreds of vineyards belonging to these two classifications.
Gemeinde
  • a commune or village
  • it does not have a legal status in German Wine Law
  • however names of Gemeinde do appear on the wine labels
Bereich
  • a district within an anbaugebeit (quality region) consisting of several Gemeinde (communes)
  • an anbaugebeit (quality region) may have several bereich (districts)
Anbaugebeit
  • designated quality wine region
  • there are 13 such quality regions in Germany