Interesting article in TRINK Magazine by StevenSidore on the new 2021 German Wine Law:
It refutes the notion that the old 1971 German law tied the Qualitats level (Kab/Spatlese/Auslese/…)
to quality. I guess I just never made that direct a correlation between Qualitatswein level and “quality”.
That Auslese was automatically of higher quality wine than Kabinett. To me, it merely measured the level
of ripeness at which the grapes were harvested, nothing more. True, it is so that you find more higher-quality wines in
the Auslese level than the Kabinett level. But I never automatically conferred a higher quality on Auslese.
I like the guy’s writing style (“turd in the punch bowl”).
But it’s still all too complicated for my simple mind. When it comes to German wine, I simply rely on the most simple
rule of thumb: If DavidBuecker says it’s good, then, by dammies, it’s good!!
The following passage is, for me, the most important/relevant take-away from all of this:
It is, after all, shockingly clear that the 2021 ordinance wrests the terms Großes Gewächs and Erstes Gewächs from the VDP’s control. Any classified single sites, not just historical high-flyers, now qualify to produce those two prestige categories of wine. Terms and conditions apply, no doubt. These are to be formulated by Schutzgemeinschaften, literally “protection communities,” which have been vested with the responsibility of establishing official regional profiles by 2023 — permitted grape varieties, yields, minimum must weights, the works. VDP members will undoubtedly play a major role in those committees, but the mechanisms are built for democratic choice and census.
There is real fear on the part of the VDP, not just of lost sales to domestic competitors, but also of the damage that plonky “premium” wines could do to the cachet (and high price point) that the VDP has spent decades cultivating for its top GG and Erstes Gewächs bottles. How else to read this official statement from the VDP in response to the passage of the legislation:
“We must give particular consideration to the careful and considered use of the terms “Großes Gewächs” and “Erstes Gewächs,” which are now defined in the ordinance. We are all in agreement that these terms must be protected. To avoid any premature missteps and risking what we have achieved, the VDP would have preferred an intensive discussion in advance before specification as an ordinance. If German winegrowing wishes to be taken seriously at the international level, then absolute excellence is required here — in terms of all criteria of production, especially however in terms of using origin to reference the best vineyards in a region.”
— (Official VDP Press Statement, emailed on April 1, 2021)
…
Make no mistake, the VDP maintains a strong hand here. It still has the vineyards, expertise, infrastructure, and connections — and the trademarks on its own proprietary versions of the phrases Großes Gewächs and Erstes Gewächs (always with the VDP. prefix).
Don’t know who the guy is…never met him. But he comes around here from time-to-time & pontificates like he knows
what he’s talking about. He could very will be an InterNet Myth for all I know!!
Tom
Any law is going to have openings for more financially motivated (that’s politespeak for greedy) producers to slink through and grab coin by deceiving less informed consumers. That said I still don’t like the updates, but I can largely agree that they (mostly) come from a good place.
Ultimately I think this will just move the goalposts, and have little impact on German wine sales.
