A Brief Guide to the Wines of Germany
German wines are produced according to a quality scale based on the ripeness of the grapes at harvest time. In general, riper grapes produce richer, more complex wines. Because of Germany’s cool, northern climate, full ripeness can often be difficult to achieve, so this ripeness-based quality scale does make some sense. The problem is that it ignores the historically proven differences in variety and vineyard site and does nothing to address differences in quality among producers. The result is that, judging only from the label, a Riesling Spätlese from a dedicated winemaker and a great vineyard would seem to be of the same quality as a Müller-Thurgau Spätlese from an industrial producer and lousy vineyards. The best way to proceed as a consumer is to and find the producers whose style you enjoy and then focus on the differences between the quality levels and vineyards in their wines.
GERMANY’S LEVELS OF WINE QUALITY
Qualitätswein/QbA. [kval-ee-TAYTS-vine] German for “quality wine.” QbA is an acronym for Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete, which means a quality wine that comes entirely from one of the 13 designated wine regions in Germany. This is an estate’s basic wine and can often be a very good value, especially from top-rated producers. Chaptalization (adding sugar to improve ripeness) is allowed in QbA.
Qualitätswein mit Prädikat/QmP. The word Prädikat [PRAY-dee-cot] literally is the grammatical term, “predicate.” Prädikat wines are “predicated” on a certain level of quality, of which there are six: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese. These are the finest of German wines. No chaptalization is allowed.
Kabinett. This is typically the lightest and most delicate style that an estate will produce. Kabinett is made from normally ripe grapes picked early in the harvest. In a region like the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Kabinett will be quite light and delicate, with just seven to eight percent alcohol.
Spätlese. [SHPAYT-lay-zuh] German for “late-harvest.” Spätlese has more richness and body than Kabinett because the grapes are allowed to ripen for an extra week or more. Once harvested, the wine can be fermented fruity (lieblich), half-dry (halbtrocken) or dry (trocken), depending on the preferences of the winemaker.
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