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German| Date: 2005-11-19 21:57:00 |
| From: Peter.Gebler@t-online.de |
Subject: Re: GERMAN CLASSIFICATION - PUZZLE!! |
| Dear Tony, Raymond, and the few that have tuck with this topic. I attended a function this evening at Schloss Vollrads in the the Rheingau, and was able to speak to the manager there, Dr. Rowald Hepp, as well as several professors from the College at Geisenheim, and the head of the German Wine Institute (sounds like name-dropping, it really was quite an evening). If you can believe it, even this illustrious group could not give me a definitive answer. The Rheingau is currently the only region in which the regional First Growth regulations have been accepted into law. All the other regions have merely VDP regulations, and thus each region can decide whether the regional rules on First Growths preculde chaptalising or not. As far as I could establish, the Rheingau does not allow chaptalising in FGs, but Mosel and Rheinhessen most likely do. Another anomaly came out in the discussion - a producer may only produce on First Growth wine per vintage. So, if for instance a winery decides to pick some grapes from their classified vineyard when the grapes have Spätlese must weight levels, and declare this as their First Growth for the vintage, then any grapes they leave hanging, to later produce an Auslese level or even a botrytis dessert wine, may not be labelled as a Frist Growth. I agree that perhaps fewer laws and more market forces may be the answer. Perhaps I should switch to a job with fewer complications than German wine. Kind regards from the Mittelrhein region Peter < More infos: www.wein-plus.com Unsubscribe: www.wein-plus.com/abmelden.htm |
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by Raymond