Vines in the hundreds of German vineyards, most based around historic villages, hang with grapes, prompting the arrival of thousands of grape pickers. Many of them young people from countries outside the European Union who, despite the stiff labour laws within Europe, can often travel from one vineyard to another, using the year's harvest not only as a chance to make some cash to help finance their European tours, but as an experience to remember.
The first vines were imported into the country, along with chestnuts, asparagus and many other things, by the Romans as they conquered the continent. They established most of Europe's famous wine growing regions, however Germany is the furthermost northern country where grapes can be productively grown, with a successful wine tradition reaching back over 2,000 years.
Cooler conditions meant the majority of vines planted along the picturesque Wine Route's patchwork of small vineyards were set onto steep, sometimes extremely steep, hillside slopes facing south or southwest to attract as much sun as possible, and the incline of the vineyards demand a fairly high level of agility and fitness to climb to the vines, tend them during the growing season and, with the arrival of the harvest, handpicking each individual bunch of grapes.
Most vineyards, or Weingut, especially along the Rivers Rhine and Mosel are not only protected from wind by the forested hills bordering them but also benefit from the warmth of the sun as it reflects from the water, nevertheless the grapes in this part of the world ripen slowly and this adds to their flavour.
Over a hundred different varieties of grape are grown in Germany but the Muller-Thurgau grape is a type specially bred to ripen quickly in these conditions, and wineries produce Liebfraumilch amongst other similar wines which are imported by countries outside Germany but not enjoyed by the Germans themselves. It is a sweet, light and bland wine and, although the Reisling grape is amongst others which are gradually replacing the Muller-Thurgau, unfortunately in many countries it is this class of wine that consumers continue to identify as being typical of that produced by German vineyards and wineries.
In fact this is not at all an accurate picture of present day German wines. Good wine needs the slower ripening varieties of grape, and this is what the greater majority of German vineyards and wineries concentrate upon.
The wine industry's special description for the ripeness of a grape is called pradikat, and ranges from Kabinett which are just ripe and make a light wine, through Spatlese which are late harvest and have a more intense flavour, via several more stages of ripeness and intensity of wine until reaching Eiswein.
The well named Eiswein, or Ice Wine, is a limited and expensive sweet dessert wine, made from over ripe grapes showing signs of a good fungus infection called 'botrytis', which have been allowed to freeze on the vine, then hand picked and processed in the middle of the night and pressed while still frozen,
German wines were considered on a par with the best that France produced during its 18th and 19th century golden era, but outside influences, ranging from imported viruses decimating the vines and the collapse of the economy, to wars and occupation of the vineyards, led to a collapse within the industry. The subsequent production of inferior wine, made from the quicker ripening grapes, went a long way towards continuing the destruction of Germany's reputation as a producer of vintage wines.
By the late 1960's German wine growers were already in the forefront of organic wine development, grown without chemical sprays, as well as bio-dynamically raised and harvested vines, and are credited not only for the taste and variety of the wines produced but also their early focus on the protection of the environment. Vintners now emphasise and promote the high quality and vintage wines that have always been produced in the various wine areas, and are gradually repairing the damage done to the reputation of German wines.
Some are amongst the best in the world, and complement modern cuisine and tastes, but few outside of Germany know they exist.
Really large vineyards are rare in Germany, and there are many small vineyard owners with vines covering no more than two acres. Some cultivate them for their own use, others as an addition to other work with their yield either sold or put into a co-operative, while any visitor to a wine region will come across small family owned Gasthaus's offering wine from their backyard vineyard on the menu.
For the last two decades German vintners with vineyards
large and small have been working together towards change. Although the sloping vine covered hillsides, the hand picking of grapes, and the many customs and popular wine festivals, wine weeks and firework displays that are centred around harvesting will not alter, the vintners are determined to succeed in changing the current perception of German wine as being, sickly, sweet and tasteless to reflect the quality of wine that is now produced. And which used to be created in the vineyards of centuries past.View of Roten Hang wine area, by R. Dautermann, Frozen grapes by Dominic Rivard, The Pfälzische Wine Queen with her Princesses at the Neustadter Wine Makers Procession, by Kallistratos, all courtesy of de.Wikipedia
This is a great little wine cooler, and invaluable at any time of the year when you want a bottle of wine, or any other beverage, to be chilled rapidly and held at the right temperature. |
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