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German| Date: 2005-11-17 12:41:53 |
| From: BLVDDAD@aol.com |
Subject: Re: GERMAN CLASSIFICATION - PUZZLE!! |
| Dear Ray, I would say that of course the entire 'reason for the exercise', going through the trouble of making these special bottlings, and promoting them, and so forth, is to showcase quality. Whether the individual bottlings actually are high in quality is of course both up to the commitment of the producer and the perceptions of the drinker. First of all. a German producer is very likely when making such a wine to select their best fruit from a first-growth vineyard, although this is not required. In addition, such a producer is unlikely to make two wines from, let's say, the Erbacher Marcobrunn, labeling one as Erstes Gewächs Marcobrunn and the other as Erbacher Marcobrunn Spätlese Trocken. If the estate has Spätlese fruit from that vineyard that for some reason is chosen not to be included in the former bottling, it will be included in other bottlings. As to your second question, wines that are labeled under the Gewächs regulations must be Qualitätsweine mit Prädikat, and thus cannot be legally chapitalized. The same regulations apply to these wines as to all Spätlesen. Interestingly enough, though, many QmP wines, if not technically chapitalized, are sweetened and extended with grape musts that are different than the ones with which the wines were made in the first instance. This is, of course, not done with the classified-vineyard wines, since they are not appreciably sweet. This will have, I believe, an overall positive effect on quality, as abuse of the Sussreserve is, I believe, VERY common in Germany, to the detriment of the wines. Best, John In a message dated 11/16/2005 4:12:54 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, raymd@singnet.com.sg writes: Hi John Thanks for your reply. Two more questions. 1) Based on your explanation, can I infer that in terms of quality, there is not much of a difference between the two especially if they are from the same producer? 2) Are wines in the Großes Gewächs category allowed to be chapterlized? Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: <BLVDDAD@aol.com> To: <wineforum@wein-plus.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 9:20 AM Subject: [wineforum] Re: GERMAN CLASSIFICATION - PUZZLE!! > In a message dated 11/14/2005 1:27:18 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, > raymd@singnet.com.sg writes: > > Love the wine but dislike that fickle clasification. What's the > difference between a Riesling Großes Gewächs and a Riesling Spatlese > trocken? > Thanks > Not very complicated--the Grosses Gewächs system is a classification > invented by and enforced for the members of the VDP, which is of course a grower > membership organization based in each region. Part of the requirements are that > the wine will be the equivalent of a Spätlese trocken (approximately) in > ripeness and residual sugar. > > Therefore, the definition for the Grosses Gewächs wines are built on those > for the Prädikat, but are either often more restrictive or contain additional > requirements. The enforcement, too, can differ, but I believe that in all > regions there will be an effort to enshrine the GG system into law. This has > already happened in some regions, I believe. > > In addition, there is an effort to undo the lumping together of vineyard > lands under famous names, which has resulted in the unconscionable dilution of > the vineyard nomenclature and the increased production of inferior wines under > great and highly recognizable names. There is hope that, and efforts > toward, the re-defining of the vineyard areas down back to the classic boundaries > found in historical maps and other data. > > On the label, you may notice some differences in the way that information is > presented. There will be an emphasis on the vineyard (Lage) name and a > de-emphasis on the town (Gemeinde) name, this latter often being found on the > rear label, along with the Prädikat information. It's supposed to be similar to > the Burgundian practice of not using the Village name with Grand Cru wines, > but it seems somewhat against the historical grain in Germany, at least to > me. > > Best, John Trombley > > > > > > More infos: www.wein-plus.com Unsubscribe: www.wein-plus.com/abmelden.htm More infos: www.wein-plus.com Unsubscribe: www.wein-plus.com/abmelden.htm |
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by Raymond