For years, German wine has been seen by America as cheap Liebfraumilch in the blue bottle, or sweet Rieslings. While many of the exports are still sweet, dry Riesling has enjoyed a boom in the 21st century with the result that German wine exports to the US doubled between 1995 and 2006.
Still, Germany is not a major player in export markets due to high labor costs, Euro valuation and the fact that over 80% of the grapes grown there are white, while consumers are drinking more reds.
Why White Varietals?
- Germany, being the northernmost commercial grape growing region, has a short growing season.
- White varietals have traditionally been of hardier stock than red.
- Hardy whites still need a long time to ripen (harvest is October/November) which gives the grapes time to build complexity not found in hotter climes.
Vineyard Micro Climate
Germany can raise outstanding grapes despite their latitude due to:- The vineyards are usually lining steep, south-facing slopes for the most radiation capture.
- The river also captures and reflects the sun’s energy.
- Fogs from the river hinder early frosts.
- Slopes of slate and chalk, two very good passive solar collectors.
- Cold air settles in the valley and is carried away from the vineyards, delaying early frost.
- Hills and forests above vineyards cut wind.
How German Wines Differ From Other Wines
- Wines are classified solely due to ripeness at harvest time. Ripeness is measured according to sugar content (Brix, Öchslegrad or density of the must).
- Even if the grape is harvested very ripe, the wine made from it can be dry (trocken), semi-sweet (halb-trocken) or sweet (süβ or lieblich).
- Most wine is grown and vinified by small vintners. There are more single vineyard wines bottled and large differences between wineries, due to their micro climates.
- Many German vintners are experimenting with organic and biodynamic vineyards.
- German vintners may only add sugar to the must for table wines and they may not fractionate the wine (centrifuge the wine and take fractions with certain alcohol amounts - as is done in California) or add water or aromas to it.
- Unlike France, Germans label their wine according to region, vineyard and grape.
- The two top varietals in Germany are Riesling and Müller-Thurgau, both whites.
- The top red varietal is Pinot Noir, called Spätburgunder in German.
