Germany

Area of vines: 102 037 ha (252 143 acres)
Riesling: 20 794 ha (51 384 acres) = 20% of Germany, 61% of Riesling worldwide

Like Champagne or Chablis, Germany is a cold climate wine region. Even if global warming is slowly increasing average temperatures, most of Germany's vineyards still need favorable microclimates for Riesling to ripen reliably. On the other hand, due to its northerly location Germany enjoys longer daylight hours during the growing season and the moderate summer temperatures often translate into lower alcohol levels of the wines.

As the chart to the left shows, Riesling clearly dominates the vineyards in Germany. In Germany Riesling achieves its most multifaceted expressions, from very dry Spätlese to unctuously sweet Trockenbeerenauslese, with every nuance in between. This has often led to confusion amongst consumers as it's often not clear from the label whether a wine is dry or sweet.

The German wine label decoded

Vintages

The Mosel near Bremm
Photo: DWI, Büschel

2006

After early budding the vines were exposed to a dry period with hot temperatures in June and July. August brought a lot of rain and pickers had to hurry picking healthy grapes for the dry wines since the August rain also meant botrytis. Overall yields were about a fifth smaller compared to 2005.

2005

A stellar vintage, combining the fruit and acidity of the 2004 vintage with the 2003 concentration and power.

2004

Higher acidity and purer fruit than 2003. Very good year for German Riesling.

2003

The year of the heat-wave and a problematic one particularly for white wines. However, those who knew how to handle the heat were able to produced excellent sweet wines.

News

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

As of August 1st the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region in Germany has shortened its name to simply Mosel. The two tributary rivers Ruwer and Saar have been drained from this prestigious region's name in an effort to simplify German wine labels and to avoid possible confusion amongst consumers in export countries, that wines from "Mosel-Saar-Ruwer" are a blend from 3 different regions. Starting with the 2007 vintage, wines from vineyards situated along each of the 3 rivers can now state "Mosel" as their region of origin or keep the old "Mosel-Saar-Ruwer" for a transition time of 2 years. Starting with the 2009 vintage the term Mosel is obligatory.

Large estates may welcome the change as an opportunity to sell more QbA as prestigious "Mosel Wein". But how do terroir-minded growers from the Saar and Ruwer feel?

Also, starting with the 2007 vintage the term "Qualitätswein mit Prädikat" (QmP) will be shortened to "Prädikatswein".

If you know a little German, you can read the article here.