GERMANY & AUSTRIA

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GERMANY- WHAT’S THE BFD?• Rich History

• Grown at the most northerly limits for vitis vinifera

• Some of the most unforgiving vineyard sites in the world• World-Class Riesling and a host of other cool grapes

• Late Harvest Gold

HISTORY• Vitis Vinifera arrived in Germany with the Romans

• 4th Century- First vineyards planted on Mosel

• 8th Century- Charlemagne introduced vines cultivation east of the Rhine River

• 1136- Cistercians of Burgundy founded Kloster Eberbach monastery in Rheingau.

• From 5th-15th century the Church was instrumental in developing vineyards- Wine was used as currency!

• Late 18th Century- Napoleon established his Civil Code after defeating Germany and claiming land for France

• Led to fractured ownership as in Burgundy• 1971- German Wine Law condenses 30,000 vineyard sites into

2,600 in bureaucratic fashion.

• Created QbA level which allowed chaptalization and flooded the export market with cheap, crappy wine.

LIEBFRAUMILCH

• Cheap, non-descript wine from grapes sourced from anywhere in the Nahe, Rheinhessen, Rheingau, or Pfalz

• Cannot carry a varietal on the label but usually Muller-Thurgau

• The face of German wine to the outside world in the 1980s

• 60% of German wine exports was Liebraumilch

GERMAN QUALITY LEVELS• PDO Wines- 95% of all wines produced

• TBA Pradikatswein• Eiswein Pradikatswein• Beerenauslese Pradikatswein• Auslese Pradikatswein• Spatlese Pradikatswein• Kabinett Pradikatswein• Qualitatswein “Erstes Gewachs”- Riesling or Pinot Noir from

classified sites in the Rheingau. Approved in 1999.• Qualitatswein

• Landwein- PGI Wines

• From one of 26 regions (landweingebiete)• Deutscher Wein- Wine without Geographical Designation from

Germany

OESCHLE (UHK-SLUH)• Must weight prior to fermentation

• Has nothing to do with actual sweetness but rather potential alcohol.

• All wines can be fermented sweet or dry.

• Similar to Brix (USA), Baume (France), and KMV (Austria)

• Germany system of measuring quality is based on this measurement.

• Global warming has essentially created a successful vintage every year since 1988.

• In the 1900’s Germany would see about 3 vintages a decade that would fully ripen.

• Chaptalization became very important

PRADIKATSWEIN• Formally Qualitaswein mit Pradikatswein (QmP)

• Kabinett- min 70-85 degrees Oeschle- Cabinet/“Table wines”

• Spatlese- min 80-95 degrees Oeschle- Late harvest

• Auslese- min 88-105 degrees Oeschle- Selected harvest

• Beerenauslese- min 110-128 degrees Oeschle- Selected berry harvest

• Eiswein- min 110-128 degrees Oeschle- Ice wine

• Trockenbeernauslese- min 150-154 degrees Oeschle- Dried selected berry harvest

Minimum must weight expressed at a range because different regions have different stipulations

NO CHAPTALIZATION ALLOWED AT THIS LEVEL

QUALITATSWEIN• Formally called Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA)

• Chaptalization allowed at this level.

• Must be grown from one of the 13 Anbaugebiete

• No mention of pradikat level

• Must state anbaugebiet on the label

• Liebfraumilch is considered Qualitatswein “Maiden’s Milk” a non-varietally labeled

EXTREME VITICULTURE• Very cold, continental climate with no large body of water

to moderate temperature

• Best sites are grown near rivers• Slate soils are heat-retentive

• Steepest slopes in the world

• Large diurnal swings (hot during day-cold during night) • Planted on south-facing slopes to maximize sunlight• Skilled workers use systems of repelling to hand-harvest

GRAPES- DESCENDING ORDER OF ACREAGE • Riesling- Most noble, high-acid white

• Muller-Thurgau- white crossing of Riesling

• Spatburgunder- Pinot Noir synonym. Most planted red.

• Dornfelder- Red crossed in 1955.

• Silvaner- White important to Franken but produced mostly in the Rhienhessen

• Grauburgunder- Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio

• Weissburgunder-Pinot Blanc/Pinot Bianco

• Portugieser- Red grape

• Kerner- White grape

• Trollinger- Red grape

GEOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN • Anbaugebiete- Large region of which there are 13

• Mosel, Rheingau, Rheinhessen, etc.• Bereiche- Slightly smaller region. Some anbaugebiete

have many while some have only one.

• Obermosel, Saar, Ruwertal, etc.• Grosslagen- A collection of vineyards

• Bastube, Michelsberg, etc.• Einzellagen- Single vineyard (theoretically)

• The German Wine Law of 1971 condensed most all of them together.

ANBAUGEBIETE• Mosel- Cool and high-acid, low-alcohol Rieslings. Pure,

brilliant, and water-white. Blue devonian slate slopes.

• Rheingau- Oldest region. Fuller Rieslings. Essentially one long southeast-facing slope. 80% planted to Riesling.

• Rheinhessen- Most acreage than any other region. Famous for the Roter Hang and its red clay vineyards.

• Message in a Bottle association a group of over two dozen young producers committed to raising quality of the region

• Ahr- Northern region. Mostly planted to Spatburgunder.

• Pfalz- Almost a continuation of France’s Alsace region. Generally most full-bodied Rieslings

• Wide range of soil types. Best sites grown further north on east-facing slopes of Haardt Hills (Vosges Mnts. In France)

ANBAUGEBIETE CONT• Nahe- Best sites along the Nahe River, a tributary of the

Rhine. Generally sweet, middle-of-the-road Riesling

• Donnhoff sweet wines from his monopole vineyard Oberhauser Brucke are prized

• Franken- Centered along the Main River. Silvaner thrives here. Produces mostly all dry wines.

• Bocksbeutel is the traditional squat, flask-shaped bottle• Mittelrhein- Narrow anbaugebiet similar to the Mosel. Most all

of their wine is trocken or halbtrocken.

• Hessische-Bergstrasse-Only region without a VDP Grosse Lage site.

ANBAUGEBIETE CONT• Baden- Large region along the French border. Mostly red.

• Wurttemberg-Contains most of Germany’s Schwarzriesling and Lemberger (Blaufrankisch).

• Sachsen (Saxony)- Very small eastern region located on the Elbe River. Goldriesling, an aromatic cross is grown here

• Saale-Unstrut- Northernmost wine region in Germany. Muller-Thurgau and Weissburgunder. Named after the two rivers that run through it.

In the Mosel anbaugebiete there are 6 Beriche. This map shows 3 of them including the famous Beriche Bernkastel, where the most important Einzellagen (vineyards) are located in the Mosel.

Please note the village of Urzig.

MOSEL

READING GERMAN WINE LABELS

Adding “er” to the village name makes it possessive. This is saying that the vineyard of Wurzgarten is in the Village of Urzig.

Weingut Karl Erbes is the producer

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer is the anbaugebiet. It is known as the Mosel since 2007

Riesling is the varietal and Auslese is the Pradikatlevel

Gutsabfulling is the equivalent of “estate bottled”

The AP Number is listed indicating the wine has passed a tasting panel and is of Pradikatswein quality.

VDP• Verband Deutscher Pradikatsweinguter is an association

of around 200 German producers committed to top quality

• More restrictive classification of vineyards than the German government.

• 2002 VDP Accord vs. 1971 German Wine Law• Prior to 2012 Erste Lage (“first site”) wines represented

top tier of VDP quality pyramid denoted by a “1” symbol

• From 2012 Erste Lage is known as “Grosse Lage” and would mirror the Grand Cru system in Burgundy.

VDP CLASSIFICATION 2012-PRESENT

1. Grosse Lage: “Grand Cru” Wines (max. 50 hl/ha)

• Can be labled “GG” for Grosses Gewachs if troken (less than 9 g/l) or by Pradikat level if sweet

2. Erste Lage: "Premier Cru" Wines (max. 60 hl/ha)

• Formally the top of the pyramid (pre-2012). This classification is optional for producers and voted on by anbaugebiet.

• Ex: Some Grosse Lage in Pfalz will be recast as Erste Lage but Rheinhessen will not adopt the Erste Lage tier.

3. Ortswein: Village Wines (max. 75 hl/ha)

• Typical grape varieties sourced from multiple vineyard sites in a single village.

4. Gutswein: Regional Wines (max. 75 hl/h)

• Can be sourced from an estate’s holdings anywhere within a single anbaugebiet

GERMAN TERMS• Alleinbesitz- Monopole

• Amtliche Prufungsnummer (AP Number)- a series of five sets of numbers indicating testing and approval

• Grosses Gewachs (GG)- VDP term that indicates a vineyards best bottle. Indicates a dry wine from premier site.

• Ortsteil- Walled Vineyard (Clos)

• Sekt- Sparkling wine mostly made at Deutscher Wein level in the Charmat method. Can be QbA if from one of the 13 Anbaugebiete.

• Weissherbst- Rose from a single variety red of QbA quality

GERMAN PRODUCERS OF NOTE• Dr. Loosen (Mosel)

• Reichsgraff von Kesselstatt (Mosel)

• Reinhold Haart (Mosel)

• Muller-Catoir (Pfalz)

• Burklin-Wolf (Pflaz)

• Gunderloch (Rheinhessen)

• Donnhoff (Nahe)

• Meyer-Nakel (Ahr)

• Hans Wirsching (Franken)

AUSTRIA- BFD• Committed to quality as evidenced by some of the most

regulated wines in the world.

• Known for Gruner Veltliner but also has amazing Riesling and a host of confusing (but quality) reds

• Cool climate, mineral-tinged, crisp wines thrive here providing a wide range of opportunity at the table.

ANTIFREEZE SCANDAL• In 1985 the “antifreeze” scandal surfaced when a winery

tried to claim diethylene glycol on a tax return

• The chemical was used to boost texture in the wine.

• Ethylene Glycol, as opposed to diethylene, is actually the chemical found in anti-freeze but it still set the industry back immensely

• As a result Austria raised it’s standards and now has some of the strictest wine laws in the world

WHITE GRAPES OF AUSTRIA• Gruner Veltliner- Covers 30% of acreage. Pride of Austria.

• Welchriesling- an unrelated grape to Riesling.

• Muller-Thurgau- Of German fame

• Weissburgunder- Pinot Blanc

• Riesling- Thrives in Wachau

• Chardonnay (Morillon/Feinburgunder)

Whites cover 65% of acreage

RED GRAPES OF AUSTRIA• Zweigelt (Blaufrankisch X St. Laurent crossing)- Most

widely grown red. Thrives in Neusiedlersee DAC

• Blaufrankisch- Known as Lemberger in Germany and Kekfrankos in Hungry. Deeply hued red showing spicy red and black fruit and supple texture.

• Blauer Portugieser

• Blauburger (Blaufrankish X Blauer Portugieser)

4 MAJOR WINE REGIONS• Called Weinbaugebiete. Listed from North to South:

• Niederosterrich (Lower Austria)• Contain most of the vineyards. Alipine terrain. The Danube River cuts

through the region. Mostly whites. Contains 8 other regions: Carnuntum, Kamptal DAC, Kremstal DAC, Thermenregion, Traisental DAC, Wagram, Weinviertel DAC, and perhaps the most famous: Wachau.

• Wien (Vienna)• One of the only major wine regions near a major city. Wiener

Gemischter Satz DAC is only sub region.

• Burgenland• Second largest region. Where to find quality reds and sweet wines.

Cooling influence of Lake Neusidlersee helps calm the hot Pannonian climate. 4 DACs located here. Rust, is located in Neusiedlersee-Hugellan (Leithaberg DAC) and is famous for its Ausbrush

• Styria (Stieremark)• Three subregions: Sudsteiermark, Weststeiermark, and

Sudoststeiermark. Only region without a DAC zone.

QUALITY LEVELS• Wein

• Generic category. Replaced “Tafelwein” in 2009 and may carry a vintage and varietal

• Landwein

• Restricted to 35 varietals • Labeled with one of three Weinbauregionen

• Weinland (Niederosterreich, Wein, and Burgenland)• Steierland (Steiermark)• Bergland- 500 ha of land scattered throughout mountains

• Qualitatswein- Divided into Pradikat and DAC

• Kabinett is in the Qualitaswein category, not the Pradikatswein category as in Germany. Still, chaptalization is disallowed.

• Ausbruch, a sweet wine from Rust and Strohwein in which grapes are dried out and concentrated on straw mats, are two Pradikatswein levels which aren’t recognized in Germany.

• Measured by Klosterneuburger Mostwaage (KMW) similar to Oeschle

QUALITATSWEIN

DISTRICTUS AUSTRIAE CONTROLLATUS (DAC)• Focus on dry wines

• Must adhere to geographic limits, specific grapes, min alcohol, and stylistic choices (oak and botrytis) for the DAC status

• Weinviertel (2002)- Gruner Veltliner. Can be made into Classic (no oak or Botrytis, min 12% alcohol with notes of fruit, spice, and pepper) or Reserve (min 13% alcohol, subtle botrytis and wood)

• Mittelburgenland (2005)- Blaufrankisch• Traisental (2006)- Riesling and Gruner similar to Weinviertel• Kremstal (2007)- Riesling and Gruner similar to Weinviertel• Kampatl (2008) - Riesling and Gruner similar to Weinviertel• Leithaberg (2009)- Only DAC to allow white and red• Eisenberg (2010)- Blaufrankisch. Classic and Reserve (needs oak)• Neusiedlersee (2012)- Based on Zwiegelt. Classic and Reserve• Wiener Gemischter Satz (2013) – Only DAC of Wein region. Blend

of at least 3 white varietals.

WACHAU• Niederosterreich’s westernmost subregion.

• Soil structure is a mix of loess, gfohler (gneiss, and alluvial sand in the lower vineyard sites near Danube.

• Gruner and Riesling excel here because of the influence of the Danube, cool northern winds, and terraced slopes on North bank.

• Home to the Vinea Wachau, an organization estates for natural winemaking who membership represents 85% of acreage

• Has its own classification instead of adhering to DAC or Pradikat

• Steinfeder (grass)- max alcohol 11.5%, min 15 KMW• Federspiel (falconer’s tool) - alcohol 11.5-12.5%, min 17 KMW• Smaragd (green lizard)– min alcohol 12.5%, in 19 KMW• All of these wines must be dry and therefore are prone to showing

high alcohol and tones of botrytis.

AUSTRIA PRODUCERS OF NOTE• Knoll (Wachau)

• FX Pichler (Wachau)

• Prager (Wachau)

• Brundlmayer (Kamptal)

• Hirsch (Kamptal)

• Nigl (Kremstal)