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Germany
Overview
German wines
have got a grotty image in the UK, and this doesn't look like it will change in
the near future. This is largely because Germany's main export consists of huge
volumes of sugar-water Liebfraumilch, made from the high-cropping but dull
Müller-Thurgau grape variety -- real Alan Partridge stuff. This is a
shame, because the better German wines, made from one of the world's great
white grape varieties, Riesling, offer wonderfully fresh, intense citrus
flavours, often with a touch of sweetness to counter the naturally high
acidity. Another potential obstacle to the consumer is decoding the labels,
which often have a bewildering array of impossibly long German words on them.
The four key components are the quality level (Tafelwein, Landwein, QbA,
Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese), the
producer (they vary in quality), the region and the grape variety (Riesling is
the one to watch out for): it's all very complicated.
Baden
Large southern German wine region which
runs along the French border, over the Rhine from the Alsace. You'd think that
with its southerly location it would be a better place to grow grapes than
Germany's chilly northern regions, but the wines from Baden, while often soft
and reliable, rarely hit the peaks. The key grapes here are
Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (the German name for Pinot Noir),
Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) and Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris); Riesling is just a
minor player. And unlike the other German regions, the wines from Baden are
mostly dry in style.
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
One of Germany's great wine
regions, named after the three interconnecting rivers along whose banks the
vineyards are sited. It's a northerly region, right at the limits of where
grapes can ripen, and so the vineyard site is the key to quality here: the best
wines are made from Riesling grapes grown on the steep hillsides overlooking
the river. These wines are fresh, delicate, mineralic, with racy acidity and
low in alcohol, and are among the world's greatest expressions of the Riesling
grape. As with other German regions, quality can vary hugely between the best
and the worst producers.
Nahe
Another German wine region named after the
river that it's arranged around, the Nahe is small, fragmented and generally
keeps a low profile. But with a slightly warmer climate than some of the more
northern regions, it makes some lovely, intense white wines from the Riesling
grape. The best wines come from the hillside vineyards.
Pfalz
This warm, southerly region is Germany's
most productive. Although many of the vineyards here make inexpensive
commercial wines of the sort that has given the German wine industry such a
poor reputation (about 50% of the Liebfraumilch produced comes from the Pfalz),
subregions such as the Mittelhardt do produce high quality wines, mainly from
the Riesling grape.
Rheingau
This
small region on the north bank of the Rhine near Mainz is Germany's most
aristocratic. The south-facing hillside vineyards produce some of the world's
greatest expressions of the Riesling grape, which need long ageing to show
their best and are a little fuller than the lighter wines of the
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer.
Rheinhessen
Immediately south of the
aristocratic Rheingau region, on the other side of the Rhine river, this large
German region makes wines of hugely varying quality. On the one hand there are
some top quality estates in the nine villages known collectively as the
'Rheinterrasse'; on the other hand this is the region responsible for half of
all Liebfraumilch produced (the rest comes from the Pfalz). |
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