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Welcome.
This website is devoted to the great wine estates of Germany, whose wines are available in the United States. It is the objective of owner, Eric Litchfield, to provide current information on all aspects of the German wine trade, with informative tasting notes, vintage reports, links to other German wine websites, and assist the viewer in purchasing wines of interest from the fine wine shops around the country. It is our goal to make GermanWineEstates, The Site for German Wine Lovers.
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German wine producers are looking forward to a very good 2011 vintage which will be available in sufficient quantity in nearly all of the growing regions. The German Wine Institute (DWI) announced that the total amount harvested, according to the latest estimates, is expected to be about nine million hectolitres. Nationwide, this year's yield is therefore around the average level of the past ten years and 30 percent above the exceptionally low - 7.1 million hectolitres - yield of the previous year. Only in Franken and Württemberg, where the frost in May caused heavy losses, will the yield be similarly low as in 2010.
According to the DWI managing director, Monika Reule, the vintage on the whole reflects the current market developments very well. "The vintners' cellars were quite empty after the relatively small wine harvest of 2010, and the demand could not be satisfied to the full extent in all cases. We are confident to regain market share lost in the previous year with the 2011 vintage as this will have a very good ratio of price to wine quality."
This is also indicated by the current Europe-wide harvest estimates which anticipate a slightly below-average harvest of wine must of about 164 million hectolitres. The yield would be on the same level as last year and about five percent below the five-year average.
"In view of the good harvest amount and supply situation, the wine sector expects largely stable wine prices for the 2011 vintage nationwide," Norbert Weber, President of the German Winegrowers' Association (Deutscher Weinbauverband) stated.
"In terms of quality, the 2011 vintage leaves nothing to be desired," Weber was pleased to announce. "Thanks to the textbook autumn a large part of the harvest has reached predicate wine level. Wine lovers will get a lot of 2011 wine for their money and have a great choice in all quality levels," said the President of the Winegrowers' Association.
As regards the aroma, the young white wines already present themselves as extremely fruity, harmonious and well balanced. Their aromas are characterised by the full maturity of the vintage. Consumers can also look forward to color-intensive and dense red wines. In addition, the magnificent late summer has produced particularly good noble sweet specialities. Many vintners are also hoping to harvest ice wine this year.
"This great 2011 vintage will not only attract significant national, but also international attention," the DWI-head Monika Reule, said confidently.
Predicted wine harvest must yield for 2011 in the German growing regions
There is no doubt about the difficulty in trying to decipher the exact meaning of all the words on a German wine label. Is it a high quality wine from a fine producer or simple table wine? Is it dry or sweet, maybe somewhere in between? It's confusing even for the most knowledgeable wine connoisseur. In order to simplify matters in an easy, legible and fun way, GermanWineEstates has created "German Wine Quality Cluster", a new graphics design which provides information in an organized and nicely laid out manner.
On the left side of the design, wine quality levels are provided from the simplest to the most complex as you read down. They are: Deutscher Wein, Landwein, Qualitätswein (QbA) and Prädikatswein. Therefore on the grape cluster, Deutscher Wein (blue), the simplest wine, is on top and the most complex, Prädikatswein (orange), is at the bottom. Size matters too! For example, the blue grape is much larger than any of those colored in orange. This means there is more Deutscher Wine produced than that at the Prädikatswein level. Prädikatswein, the highest quality category, is further broken down into ripeness levels: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauselese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese. Kabinett, the least ripe category, sits at the top whereas Trockenbeerenauslese, the ripest, is located at the bottom of the cluster. This is further summarized reading down the right side of the chart where ripeness levels are provided for various quality categories. You can see that Qualitätswein (QbA) has riper fruit at harvest than Deutscher Landwein. Finally, the chart shows that the sweetest wines are on the right side of the cluster and the driest on the left. Therefore those located in the middle are on the off-dry side.
Let's use a couple of examples:
Deutscher Landwein - Here we can see, that this category sits near the top of the cluster and sits to the left side of the middle on the sweetness scale. This means that the wine is of good quality, not great, production is large and the sweetness of the wine can be off-dry to dry.
Beerenauslese - Almost at the bottom of the grape cluster and on the right, therefore it's a Prädikatswein, a wine of the highest quality, since the color is orange. The wine is very sweet made from fully ripe fruit and is produced in small quantities. A Beerenauslese is, in fact, one of the great sweet wines in Germany.
Please refer to the Understanding German Wine Labels page for more in depth information on this topic. Have fun!!
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Low Volume, Good Quality
The German winegrowers expect the yield in this year to be the smallest of the last 25 years. Per the German Wine Institute (WI), the estimate of the amount to be harvested in 2010 will only amount to 7 million hectoliters. This is approximately 25 percent less than last year's harvest. Quality-wise, the 2010 vintage is considered to be good.
In all of Europe, an above-average yield of wine must is not expected. The prognosis is 165.5 million hectoliters, or six percent under the average of the last five years.
Quality-wise, the 2010 vintage is considered to be good. Approximately 25 percent of the total harvest of this year will be at the level of ‘Prädikatswein’/Quality Wine with Distinction.
“The reason for the unusually small yield is mainly due to the reduced fruit set caused by the low temperatures at the time of the blossoming,“ Norbert Weber, president of the German Winegrowers’ Association, explained.
Additionally, measures take to insure high quality such as the rigorous selection during the picking resulted in a reduction of the yield. This was necessitated by the extremely cool and damp weather we experienced in August in order to harvest the healthiest grapes possible. In some regions hailstorms led to further destruction of crops. “This was not an easy year for our winegrowers. It required nerves of steel and great patience to deal with the situation.,” remarked the president of the Winegrowers’ Association. The patience of the winegrowers was rewarded with a Golden October which brought those late-ripening grapes such as the Riesling, the Silvaner and the Pinots an opportunity to soak up the sunshine.
The 2010 vintage wines will be less full-bodied than those of previous years. “This year’s white wines are characterized by the typical fresh fruitiness and vitalizing freshness which is so highly esteemed both here and abroad. Through the nourishment they receive from the good water and nutrients in the soil they present themselves as extremely extractive. The red wines will not be a disappointment to the wine lovers, either. They can look forward to first-class noble sweet wine specialties from this vintage year. Sweet dessert wines – Trockenbeerenauslese – with record high must densities of 250 degrees Oechsle were harvested,” emphasized Mr. Weber. In view of the tense situation as regards the reduced volume of the harvest, he assumes that not many winegrowers will take on the risk of leaving the grapes on the vine in order to produce ice wine this year.
In view of the relatively large reduction of the supply, the wine sector is figuring on a small increase in the price of wine for this year’s vintage. “We do not expect considerable price increases,” the German Wine Institute’s Director Mrs. Monika Reule declared. Considering the strong competition on the international market and the sensitivity of consumers to pricing of wine, large increases are not possible. The market situation in France and Spain where we import large amounts will become even more competitive, as in these countries the yields were relatively good, and it will be a challenge to maintain our present market position. The announced price alignments will in most cases not be sufficient to compensate for the reduced yield.
Please feel free to contact GermanWineEstates with any questions or comments. For a quick connection, please use the About GWE page.
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