German wine

Cool vineyards along the river

Germany lies at the northern limit of where grapes can still ripen well. That is why the best vineyards are often on steep slopes along rivers, facing the sun. The water and stony soil retain heat. The country has thirteen wine regions. The Mosel is famous for Riesling from steep slate slopes. The Rheingau and Nahe also produce mainly Riesling. Rheinhessen is the largest region, with many different grape varieties. The Pfalz and Baden, in the south, are warmer and known for Spätburgunder and white Burgundy varieties. In Franconia, they drink Silvaner from the distinctive flat, round bottle.

Riesling is Germany's most important grape. It produces wines with plenty of fresh acidity and aroma, available in dry, lightly sweet and sweet styles. On the label, this is indicated by words such as trocken (dry), halbtrocken or feinherb (lightly sweet), and lieblich (sweet). Labels also sometimes include classifications such as Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese. These indicate how ripe the grapes were at harvest: Kabinett is the lightest, while Auslese is riper and often sweet. Above these are rare sweet wines such as Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein, made from grapes picked frozen on the vine. For red wine, spätburgunder is the most important grape, while dornfelder produces soft, dark red wine.