QbA, Kabinett, Spaetlese….No, there is not just 1, but there are 4 Different Wine Classification Systems in Germany

Picture: VDP President and Winemaker Steffen Christmann, Weingut A. Christmann, Wine Journalist Stuart Pigott, and VDP Vice-President and Winemaker Wilhelm Weil, Weingut Weil, Presenting the new VDP Classification at the 4th Riesling Rendezvous in Seattle

See:
Steffen Christmann (Weingut A. Christmann) and Wilhelm Weil (Weingut Robert Weil) Presented the New Wine Classification of the VDP, Germany

Although many people think that there is only one wine classification system in Germany – the classification system of the Law of 1971 – this is not correct. True, the classification system of the Law of 1971 is the standard classification system in Germany and the vast majority of winemakers in Germany use this approach. A large number of winemakers, however, have moved away from the standard, in particular the producers of premium and ultra-premium wines. Importantly, the powerful group of German elite winemakers – the VDP – has conceived its own classification system. Other winemakers moved to a zero classification system – no classification, an approach very familiar in the New World. Finally, many winemakers have developed their own classification system.

This posting attempts to provide an overview of what is out there in the German wine market.

A. The Standard Classification System: The Law of 1971 – A Pyramid of Ripeness at the Center

The Ripeness at Harvest

The basic wine classification system in Germany is the classification system of the wine law of 1971. At the center of it is the sugar content of the fruit at the point of harvest. The higher the sugar content in the grapes at the point of harvest, the higher the classification of the wine.

The Germans use the Oechsle scale to measure the sugar in the grapes. Based on the Oechsle scale, German wine is classified into nine quality groups, ranging from Tafelwein with the minimum Oechsle degree of 44 to Trockenebeerenauslese with a minimum Oechsle degree of 150. The minimum Oechsle degrees differ somewhat between Germany’s wine regions and between red and white wine. The numbers indicated below are those for the white wines from the Mosel valley.

Tafelwein (Table wine) - the lowest German quality class; has to have at least 44 degrees of Oechsle in the vineyard.

Landwein (Country wine) - 47 degrees of Oechsle at the minimum.

Less than 5% of wine produced in Germany is classified as Tafelwein and Landwein

Qualitaetswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA wine) means a quality wine from one of the thirteen specified German wine regions; close to 50% of German wine is QbA wine - 50 degrees Ochsle.

Importantly, these 3 groups of wines can be chaptalized (Chaptalization: sugar is added to the juice before fermentation to increase the alcohol level after fermentation, commonly used in all wine producing regions of the world). The chaptalization adds body to these otherwise lighter wines and makes them great simple food wines. The EU wine law limits the amount of additional alcohol that can be achieved through this cellar technique to between 3.5% by volume (28 grams of alcohol per liter) and 2.5% by volume (20 grams of alcohol per liter), depending on the region.

Kabinett - 67 degrees Oechsle.

Spaetlese means late harvest but this are simply wines made from grapes with a higher level of Oechsle - 76 degrees - and not necessarily wine made with grapes harvested late in the season.

Auslese - 83 degrees of Oechsle.

Beerenauslese - 110 degrees of Oechsle.

Eiswein - icewine, the same minimum level of 110 degrees of Oechsle.

Trockenbeerenauslese - 150 degrees of Oechsle.

Picture: Christian G.E. Schiller and Carl von Schubert from the Maximin Gruenhaus Estate in Washington DC. Carl von Schubert belongs to the Group of German World Class Winemakers who are not Members of the VDP

See also:
Carl von Schubert from the Maximin Gruenhaus Estate Returned a Favor: With his Wines in Washington DC (and in Seattle), USA

Sugar in the Grape and Sweetness of the Finished Wine

In contrast to a widespread believe, these 9 quality categories do not reflect the sweetness in the finished wines. Except for the noble-sweet wines, German wine, ranging from Tafelwein to Auslese, can be either sweet or dry. Why is that so?

A bit of background: The fermentation of grape must is a process in which sugars, naturally present in grape juice, are transformed into alcohol and carbon dioxide by the action of yeasts. During fermentation, the sugar content of the must declines, while the alcohol content increases and the CO2 disappears. This process stops automatically when the alcohol level in the wine has reached around 13 to 15 percent of the volume.

There is a straightforward link between the sugar content in the fruit and the resulting alcohol level in the wine.

For a wine with 13.0 percent alcohol, for example, one needs grapes at the 90 degrees Oechsle level. This would be a dry wine, without any remaining sweetness. 90 degrees Oechsle is well beyond the Spaetlese category and high up in the Auslese category. Thus, all of Germany’s Spaetlese wines and most Auslese wines, if left to Mother Nature only, should be dry. You have to go beyond that - say 110 degrees Oechsle - for the fermentation to stop naturally and sugar to remain in the wine. This is the case with the group of noble-sweet wines (Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein). All German wines up to the Auslese category are potentially bone-dry.

Fruity-Sweet Kabinett, Spaetlese and Auslese Wines - How?

In reality there is plenty of sweet-style German wine at the Kabinett, Spaetlese and Auslese levels, and very popular in particular in Germany’s export markets. How do winemakers achieve this? There are two methods used by German winemakers to generate residual sugar in such wine:

First, stopping the fermentation; this is typically done through a skillful manipulation of the fermentation process with sulfur and temperature control. The winemaker needs to follow closely the fermentation process and must make sure that it comes to a stop at the desired level of sweetness.

Second, the other technique is to let the wine first fully ferment and then add to the dry and fully fermented wine sterilized grape juice (called in German "Suessreserve"). Here the winemakers lets the wine fully ferment to produce a dry wine and then experiments with different amounts of Suessreserve to achieve the desired level of sweetness in the final product. Ideally, the Suessreserve comes from the same wine. It needs to be sterilized so it does not begin to ferment after it is added to the wine.

The Noble Sweet Wines

Noble sweet wines, however, is a different story. The fruit has such a high sugar level at harvest that there is nothing you can do preventing the wine to remain sweet. These noble-sweet wines are produced either from botrytised grapes or grapes that were harvested during frost, more specifically,

First, the fog in the autumn mornings at German river banks produces a fungal infection, botrytis cineria (noble rot), which removes the water in the grapes and adds a unique flavor to the grape; and

Second, the frost late in the year, which also removes the water in the grapes when the temperatures fall (but does not produce the botrytis taste).

In both cases, the sugar content of the grape is exceptionally high at the time of the harvest and mother nature is unable to ferment all the sugar. These are the famous sweet dessert wines in Germany: Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein.

Vineyard: Einzellage and Grosslage

The 1971 wine law also has elements of a terroir concept, but this is on the backburner. There are Grosslagen (collective vineyards) and Einzellagen (single vineyards). For the average consumer, Grosslage sites became virtually indistinguishable from Einzellage sites. Only few experts would know, for example, that Hochheimer Daubhaus is a Grosslage and Hochheimer Hoelle a Einzellage. Would you?

B. The VDP Classification – The German Elite Winemakers: The Burgundian Approach with the Terroir Concept at the Center

VDP winemaker and President of the Rheingau VDP Wilhelm Weil: “The new VDP Wine Classification System is basically a matrix classification.”

On one achse you find the different quality levels of the wines, along the Burgundian terroir approach, with estate wines, village wines, first growth (premier cru) wines and great growth (grand cru) wines.

Following their colleagues in the Bourgogne, the terroir principle has taken center stage in the VDP classification. Effective with the 2012 harvest, the VDP classification has the following 4 quality layers (In brackets, the equivalent quality classes in the classification system of the Bourgogne):

• VDP.Grosse Lage (Grand Cru in Burgundy)
• VDP.Erste Lage (Premier Cru in Burgundy)
• VDP.Ortswein (Village level in Burgundy)
• VDP.Gutswein (Bourgogne régional in Burgundy)

Note that for some legal reasons, the VDP has started to use the terms Grosse Lage, Erste Lage, Ortswein and Gutswein with the pre-fix VDP.

On the other achse, you find the sweetness levels: Trocken, Kabinett, Spaetlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese as well as Eiswein. Please note that in the new VDP classification system the Prädikats have lost their critical importance that they have in the traditional classification system of 1971 and that they have changed their meaning. In the VDP classification system, they have become an indicator for the sweetness range of the finished wine, while in the traditional classification they are an indicator of the sugar content of the grapes at harvest. Generally, in the new VDP classification system, the Prädikats are to be used exclusively for wines with residual sweetness, “thereby enabling the Prädikats to resume their traditional meaning”, as stated by the VDP.