Wines From Germany - Yes Germany! They Make Some Incredible Little Known Wine
Wines From Germany If I were writing about wine about 100 years ago and I mentioned the second most famous wine region in the world, would you be surprised to find out that I was talking about Germany? Grown at the most northern vineyard region in the world, Germany faces some of the most challenging conditions in the world.
These harsh growing conditions force German vintners to choose their grapes extremely carefully.
The main grape planted in the region is Riesling, which is perfectly adapted for the extremely cool climate because it is able to keep intense flavor (although only one or two flavors are often present) while keeping an incredibly high acidity.
Many wine drinkers will describe the top German Riesling's as having a certain energy to them which is uncommon in any other wine.
Being grown at such cool temperatures imposes it's own set of problems, so German winemakers must make every sacrifice imaginable to achieve ripeness.
To start they allow their grapes to mature on the vines for a longer time period then any other region.
It is not uncommon for vines to not be picked until the beginning of November when most other wine regions are picking in September.
German growers also choose their vineyard locations very carefully.
They will choose only south facing slopes in order to save every single second of sunlight during the day.
Additionally they plant their vines as close to the river as possible.
They do this both because the river keeps the winter temperatures higher then elsewhere, but also because sunlight reflecting off the river can add a small touch to ripeness.
Lastly the most common soil is slate.
Slate is a porous soil which will keep heat in for long periods, while being porous enough to allow roots to spread over a wide distance.
This shale is so prized that when pieces of it fall down a southern facing slope, the vineyard hands will pick it up and return it to the vineyard by the bucketful.
One word on those vineyard hands, would you be surprised to know that the average worker at a German vineyard is a 60 year old retired woman? As you can see German wines continue to amaze based on their quality and frankly based on their existence at all.
Try a German wine in the future, you might be surprised at what you find, I know I was.
These harsh growing conditions force German vintners to choose their grapes extremely carefully.
The main grape planted in the region is Riesling, which is perfectly adapted for the extremely cool climate because it is able to keep intense flavor (although only one or two flavors are often present) while keeping an incredibly high acidity.
Many wine drinkers will describe the top German Riesling's as having a certain energy to them which is uncommon in any other wine.
Being grown at such cool temperatures imposes it's own set of problems, so German winemakers must make every sacrifice imaginable to achieve ripeness.
To start they allow their grapes to mature on the vines for a longer time period then any other region.
It is not uncommon for vines to not be picked until the beginning of November when most other wine regions are picking in September.
German growers also choose their vineyard locations very carefully.
They will choose only south facing slopes in order to save every single second of sunlight during the day.
Additionally they plant their vines as close to the river as possible.
They do this both because the river keeps the winter temperatures higher then elsewhere, but also because sunlight reflecting off the river can add a small touch to ripeness.
Lastly the most common soil is slate.
Slate is a porous soil which will keep heat in for long periods, while being porous enough to allow roots to spread over a wide distance.
This shale is so prized that when pieces of it fall down a southern facing slope, the vineyard hands will pick it up and return it to the vineyard by the bucketful.
One word on those vineyard hands, would you be surprised to know that the average worker at a German vineyard is a 60 year old retired woman? As you can see German wines continue to amaze based on their quality and frankly based on their existence at all.
Try a German wine in the future, you might be surprised at what you find, I know I was.
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