The first vines were brought to Germany at the end of the second century AD, and cultivated on the banks of the Rhine and in the Mosel Valley. Starting in the 6th century, viniculture was documented. After the Romans, the monasteries of the Middle Ages were responsible for it. The 30 Years War and then later the attack of the phylloxera vastatrix decimated the vineyards, but it has never actually died out.
The best vineyards are in the Rhine Valley and on the bank-sloes of the Neckar, Main, Mosel and Ahr rivers, as well as on the banks of the Bodensee, Saale, and Unstrut. Germany is split into 13 growing-regions, 11 of which are on the Rhine or its . The regions are again split into about 38 areas that, according to winelaws, are made up of several spots where wines taste similar. But this definition isn't always correct.
The wine laws distinguish 4 classes. Starting with table wines, the demands continue to increase for country wines, quality wines from a certain region, to the highest quality class, the Quality wines of Predicate.
Germany's wine production is dominated by white wines. 80% of the vines are white, like the Mueller-Thurgau, Riesling, and Kerner. More than half of the white are processed to dry or semi-dry wines. |
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