Just When You Thought You Understood German Wine

For those of you who have been reading here for a while, you might recall that I spent nearly a week on German Riesling. If you were really paying attention and have a good memory to go with it, you'll recall that the levels of wine within the German pradikat of qulaitatswein are based on must sugar levels. So, generally speaking, the more sugar in the must, the higher the level on the quality scale.

While doing this, we learned that, in order from least expensive to most, the German heirarchy is, and has been for years, Kabinett (good enough for the winemaker to keep in his own wine cabinet), Spatlese (late harvest or fully ripened), Auslese (even more late havest), Beerenauslese (selected harvest of berries), and Trockenbeerenauslese (dried berries selection or the grapes held so long on the vine and so overripe that they have shriveled to the point of drying out).

Got it? All makes sense? It took me a long time to learn all that and to remember the order and to know which notes likely came with which wines and which ones were most ageworthy and on and on and on. Most everything else on the label was frankly incidental.

But now, because the German wine authorities must hate me, they are adding a second set of classifications to German wines. No, this one is not replacing the first; they are running in parallel, or perhaps more accurately perpendicularly.

Under the new classifications, and thankfully they don't take effect until 2026, although I can't quite figure out if it is with the 2026 vintage or with wines released in 2026, German wines  will get these new classifications:

  • Deutscher Wein (any old wine from any place in Germany including a combination of grapes from multiple places)
  • Geschützten Geografischer Angabe (GGA) or protected geographic indication (PGI) for people who prefer English to German. This is much like the Italian IGT, or at least I think it is.
  • Landwein (it's not clear to me what this will be 
  • Geschützter Ursprungsbezeichnung (GU) or Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). These will be the qualitatswein, so any PDO wines will also get a Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, or Trockenbeerenauslese deiignation.
And, finally, wines will be designated with an area although it seems to me that area is already covered in the mishmash up above.

Confused yet? I am. I think I will only drink up through the 2025 vintage.

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