written by team member Maddy
July was German wine month, which has proven up being a huge success. While there is often much confusion around these wines, we were happy to see how well customers responded to the German inspired tastings. For all of those who couldn’t make it to one of our tastings or are just keen to learn more about this fascinating wine producing country, we thought we would create an introduction guide to German wines.
The Grapes:
Whilst most people associate Germany with just Riesling they have a whole plethora of other varieties that they produce wine from. They use many grapes people may be familiar with but call them by different names.
White Grapes
SILVANER: sometimes spelt Sylvaner, a grape with a long wine producing history. This grape may have fallen slightly out of consumer preference in the 1970s, however it is a diverse variety with stone fruit characters and herbal notes.
MÜLLER-THURGAU: also known as Rivaner, this grape is a cross of Riesling and Madeleine Royale in the late 1800s. Known as an over productive variety, it can produce large volumes of enjoyable fruity wine. The best examples are floral with good acidity and can have herbaceous or mineral notes with ripe fruit.
GRAUBURGUNDER: known in other countries as Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio. Not comparable to your average Pinot Grigio these wines are often richer and more complex with ripe peach notes and can often have a slight spice character to them.
WEISSBURGUNDER: also known as Pinot Blanc, probably most well-known for the wines produced in Alsace. Germany also makes some excellent examples; these wines are fresh and bright often with hints of almond (especially with some age). Can also be used to produce sparkling wine.
Red Grapes
SPÄTBURGUNDER: another name for Pinot Noir. This international grape is quickly gaining a reputation for high quality complex wines from Germany. They are often oak aged and rich dark and complex. Lighter styles are also made to appeal to a larger audience.
DORNFELDER: the second most planted red German variety, which is produced in two very distinct styles. The youthful easy drinking style which is soft and has typical sour cherry notes, or more complex age worthy styles which have higher tannins, darker and richer flavours, and are often oak aged.
PORTUGISER: a charming everyday wine, light in colour with gentle fruit and low acidity. Perfect for enjoying by itself. It is often made into off-dry rosé as well.
LEMBERGER: also known as Blaufränkisch (or Kékfrankos in Hungary), can often be blended in Germany but makes for excellent single varietal wines. It is a great Pinot Noir alternative with soft ripe fruit, good acidity and tannin while not being too heavy, often can be served slightly chilled.
The Styles
A common misconception with German wine is that it is all sweet, whilst some sweet wine is produced there is also a lot of dry wines produced and just about everything in between. While the labelling can be rather confusing there are some key terms to look out for.
Kabinett
The lightest bodied wines, often lower alcohol with high acidity. Can be dry (slightly higher abv) medium or sweet in style.
Spätlese
Fuller bodied, riper flavoured wines that are harvested a few weeks after Kabinett wines. Slightly higher alcohol, can range from dry to medium-sweet
Auslese
Considered a Noble wine, more intense taste often starting to have honeyed flavours. Some grapes may have been effected by noble rot (botrytis) but it is not a requirement. These wines can be very ripe tropical flavours but can still be dry or sweet in style (sweet wines may have alcohol as low as 7%)
Beerenauslese (BA)
Rare wines made from selected berries (hand harvested), with a percentage of the grapes being affected by noble rot. These wines are always sweet and often have much lower levels of alcohol, the minimum level is only 5.5% ABV. These wines aren’t produced every year as the vineyards need specific conditions for botrytis to form.
Eiswein
These wines are similar to Beerenauslese however the grapes must be harvested when they are frozen (temperatures must be below -7°C) and are pressed when frozen. These wines are very rare and are often regarded to have some of the longest ageing potential of any wine. Artificial freezing of grapes is not allowed so this style of wine is extremely difficult and often risky to produce as the grapes may be effected by disease before they freeze.
Trockenbeerenauslese
All grapes must have been affected by botrytis, only a very small amount of very concentrated juice is produced from each bunch. These wines are only made when the conditions are perfect as the whole harvest must be affected, yields are always small so production is limited. Due to the intensely high levels of sugar the alcohol levels rarely go above 8% abv. These are often the most expensive wines produced in Germany.
Whilst it may still seem confusing trying to determine the levels of sweetness in these wines, a good way to check is by looking at the alcohol percentage. Lower alcohol wines will contain some level of sugar and higher alcohol wines will contain less amounts of sugar.
Sometimes you might see Trocken written on a bottle, this means the wine must be dry. But not in the case of Trockenbeerenauslese….that is another story!
Hopefully this intro to German wines has helped and might encourage you to try something new!
