Pinot Meunier ( French pronunciation: [pino mønje] ), also known as Meunier or Schwarzriesling ( German: [ˈʃvaʁt͡sˌʁiːslɪŋ] ), is a variety of red wine grape most noted for being one of the three main varieties used in the production of Champagne (the other two are the red variety Pinot noir and the white Chardonnay ). Until recently, producers in Champagne generally did not acknowledge Pinot Meunier, preferring to emphasise the use of the other noble varieties, but now Pinot Meunier is gaining recognition for the body and richness it contributes to Champagne. Pinot Meunier is approximately one-third of all the grapes planted in Champagne . It is a chimeric mutation of Pinot: its inner cell layers are composed of a Pinot genotype which is close to Pinot noir or Pinot gris; the outer, epidermal, layer is, however, made up of a mutant, distinctive, genotype. Pinot Meunier was first mentioned in the 16th century, and gets its name and synonyms ( French Meunier and German Müller —both meaning miller ) from flour-like dusty white down on the underside of its leaves.
69-827: Pinot Meunier can be identified by ampelographers by its indented leaves that appear downy white, like flour has been dusted liberally on the underside, and lightly on the upper side, of the leaf. The name "Meunier" comes from the French word for miller with many of the grapevine's synonyms (see below) also hearkening to this association—such as "Dusty Miller" which is used in England , "Farineaux" and "Noirin Enfariné" used in France as well as "Müllerrebe" and "Müller-Traube" used in Germany . This characteristic derives from large numbers of fine white hairs on
138-553: A Benedictine abbey on slopes above Geisenheim , the ground of which later became Schloss Johannisberg . His successor Adalbert of Mainz donated land above Hattenheim in 1135 to Cistercians , sent out from Clairvaux in Champagne , who founded Kloster Eberbach . Many grape varieties commonly associated with German wines have been documented back to the 14th or 15th century. Riesling has been documented from 1435 (close to Rheingau), and Pinot noir from 1318 on Lake Constance under
207-461: A cultivated area of more than 7,000 hectares, Germany ranks in place six worldwide. The market share of organic wine is between four and five percent. Chaptalization is allowed only up to the QbA level, not for Prädikatswein and all wines must be fermented dry if chaptalised. To balance the wine, unfermented grape juice, called Süssreserve , may be added after fermentation. German wine classification
276-399: A doubling of the vineyards used for red wine. Nowadays, over 35% of the vineyards are cultivated with red grapes. Some of the red grapes are also used to produce rosé . Out of all the grape varieties listed below, only 20 have a significant market share. During the last century several changes have taken place with respect to the most planted varieties. Until the early 20th century, Elbling
345-510: A particular clone of Pinot Meunier that has developed in the region known as Samtrot . Pinot Meunier is also found in significant quantities in the German wine regions of Baden , Franconia and Palatinate . Despite the variety's connection with Champagne, it only recently become popular to use Schwarzriesling in the production of sparkling wines Sekt , often not blended with its Champagne partners but as pure brut Schwarzriesling "Sekt". Pinot Meunier
414-471: A plant growth hormone . This leads to different, white-haired, leaf and shoot growth, and also to a slight stunting in growth, explaining why Pinot Meunier plants tend to be a bit smaller than Pinot noir. The mutation exists only in the outermost cell layer of the cultivar, the L1 or 'epidermal' layer, meaning Pinot Meunier is a chimera . Through tissue culture, it is thus possible to separate out plants containing both
483-402: A standard Champagne blend, Pinot Meunier contributes aromatics and fruity flavors to the wine. Champagnes with a substantial proportion of Pinot Meunier tend not to have as much significant aging potential as Champagnes that are composed primarily of Chardonnay or Pinot noir. It is therefore most commonly used for Champagnes that are intended to be consumed young, when the soft, plushy fruit of
552-730: A still Pinot Meunier. In Australia , the grape has had a longer history in Australian wine production than Pinot noir. In the Grampians region of Victoria , Pinot Meunier was known at one time as Miller's Burgundy and used to make still red varietal wine. In the late 20th century plantings were starting to decline until a revival of Champagne-style sparkling wine took hold in the 2000s which sparked renewed interest in Pinot Meunier. The New Zealand wine industry has recently discovered Pinot Meunier for both still & sparkling wine production . As
621-433: A synonym of Pinot Meunier. The Wrotham Pinot does look somewhat similar to Meunier, with white hairs on the upper surface of the leaves. But it is particularly resistant to disease, has a higher natural sugar content and ripens two weeks earlier than Meunier. No genetic evidence exists however to prove it is anything other than a distinctively named clone of Pinot Meunier. Pinot Meunier is known under various synonyms across
690-474: A varietal red wine, Pinot Meunier tends to produce slightly jammy, fruity wines with moderate acidity and low tannins . Ferdinand Regner has proposed that Pinot Meunier (Schwarzriesling) is a parent of Pinot noir but this work has not been replicated and would appear to be superseded by the Australian work. The Wrotham (pronounced "rootum") Pinot is an English selection of Pinot that is sometimes regarded as
759-559: A white wine country, red wine production surged in the 1990s and early 2000s, primarily fuelled by domestic demand, and the proportion of the German vineyards devoted to the cultivation of dark-skinned grape varieties has now stabilized at slightly more than a third of the total surface. For the red wines, Spätburgunder , the domestic name for Pinot noir , is in the lead. Germany produces wines in many styles: dry, semi-sweet and sweet white wines, rosé wines, red wines and sparkling wines, called Sekt . (The only wine style not commonly produced
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#1732848515289828-442: A wine label. The grape has been favored by vine growers in northern France due to its ability to bud and ripen more reliably than Pinot noir. The vine's tendency to bud later in the growing season and ripen earlier makes it less susceptible to developing coulure which can greatly reduce a prospective crop. For the last couple of centuries, Pinot Meunier has been the most widely planted Champagne grape, accounting for more than 40% of
897-510: Is Victor Rendu's Ampélographie française of 1857, featuring hand-colored lithographs by Eugene Grobon. Until the Second World War, ampelography had been an art. Then Pierre Galet of the École nationale supérieure agronomique de Montpellier made a systematic assembly of criteria for the identification of vines. The Galet system was based on the shape and contours of the leaves, the characteristics of growing shoots, shoot tips, petioles,
966-636: Is also grown in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and in small quantities in Austria . In California , American sparkling wine producers wishing to emulate the Champagne method began planting Pinot Meunier in the 1980s. Today most of the state's plantings are located in the Carneros AVA . Bouchaine Vineyards , Mumm Napa and Domaine Chandon are a few wineries in all of the Napa Valley to produce
1035-482: Is around one tenth of the vineyard surface in Spain , France or Italy . The total wine production is usually around 10 million hectoliters annually, corresponding to 1.3 billion bottles, which places Germany as the eighth-largest wine-producing country in the world. White wine accounts for almost two thirds of the total production. As a wine country, Germany has a mixed reputation internationally, with some consumers on
1104-437: Is believed to have reached their greatest extent sometime around 1500, when perhaps as much as four times the present vineyard surface was planted. Basically, the wine regions were located in the same places as today, but more lands around the rivers, and land further upstream Rhine's tributaries, was cultivated. The subsequent decline can be attributed to locally produced beer becoming the everyday beverage in northern Germany in
1173-460: Is dominated by craft rather than industry wines. This makes the lists of wines produced long and complex, and many wines hard to obtain as production is so limited. The wine regions in Germany usually referred to are the 13 defined regions for quality wine. The German wine industry has organised itself around these regions and their division into districts. However, there are also a number of regions for
1242-552: Is fortified wine.) Due to the northerly location of the German vineyards, the country has produced wines quite unlike any others in Europe, many of outstanding quality. Between the 1950s and the 1980s German wine was known abroad for cheap, sweet or semi-sweet, low-quality mass-produced wines such as Liebfraumilch . The wines have historically been predominantly white, and the finest made from Riesling . Many wines have been sweet and low in alcohol , light and unoaked . Historically many of
1311-775: Is needed to produce the wine. Since it can be difficult to get ripe grapes in such a northernly location as Germany, the sugar maturity of grapes ( must weight ) as measured by the Oechsle scale have played a great role in Germany. German vintners on average crop their vineyards quite high, with yields averaging around 64–99 hl/ha, a high figure in international comparison. Some crossings used for low-quality white wine yield up to 150–200 hl/ha, while quality-conscious producers who strive to produce well-balanced wines of concentrated flavours rarely exceed 50 hl/ha. Many wines in Germany are produced using organic farming or biodynamic methods. With an average annual growth rate of 25 percent and
1380-551: Is often distributed over, say, 10–25 different wines from different vineyards, of different Prädikat , sweetness and so on. The largest vineyard owner is the Hessian State Wineries ( Hessische Staatsweingüter ), owned by the state of Hesse , with 200 ha vineyards, the produce of which is vinified in three separate wineries. The largest privately held winery is Dr. Bürklin-Wolf in the Palatinate with 85,5 ha. By April 2014,
1449-467: Is primarily produced in the west of Germany , along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of German wine is produced in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate , where 6 of the 13 regions ( Anbaugebiete ) for quality wine are situated. Germany has about 103,000 hectares (252,000 acres or 1,030 square kilometers) of vineyard, which
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#17328485152891518-457: Is sometimes the source of confusion. However, to those familiar with the terms used, a German wine label reveals much information about the wine's origin, the minimum ripeness of the grapes used for the wine, as well as the dryness/sweetness of the wine. In general, the ripeness classifications of German wines reflect minimum sugar content in the grape (also known as "potential alcohol" = the amount of alcohol resulting from fermenting all sugar in
1587-420: Is the field of botany concerned with the identification and classification of grapevines, Vitis spp. Traditionally this has been done by comparing the shape and colour of the vine leaves and grape berries; more recently the study of vines has been revolutionised by DNA fingerprinting. The grape vine is an extremely variable species and some varieties , such as Pinot , mutate particularly frequently. At
1656-588: Is used also to make dry white wines with a fresh, fruity character. Most German plantings of the variety (1,795 hectares (4,440 acres) out of 2,424 hectares (5,990 acres), or 74%, in the year 2006) are found in Württemberg . Here it is used to make a local speciality known as Schillerwein which is characterized by its light pink color, smokey noted and slightly higher acidity than wines made from Spätburgunder (Pinot noir). Some growers in Württemberg have been promoting
1725-694: The Ampelografia Italiana of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. The book collects 551 color plates of grapes from all over the world, with texts in Italian and English, which describe the morphological and agricultural characteristics of each vine variety, as well as their synonyms and historical curiosities. Carole Meredith at the University of California, Davis , pioneered the use of genetic fingerprinting for vine identification. Famous successes with
1794-531: The Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute . Since several years ago there has been an increase in plantings of Riesling as local and international demand has been demanding high quality wines. The wines are all produced around rivers, mainly the Rhine and its tributaries, often sheltered by mountains. The rivers have significant microclimate effects to moderate the temperature. The soil is slate in
1863-696: The 16th century, leading to a partial loss of market for wine, to the Thirty Years' War ravaging Germany in the 17th century, to the dissolution of the monasteries, where much of the winemaking know-how was concentrated, in those areas that accepted the Protestant reformation, and to the climatic changes of the Little Ice Age that made viticulture difficult or impossible in marginal areas. An important event took place in 1775 at Schloss Johannisberg in Rheingau, when
1932-564: The 18th century in some parts of Germany, such as the Kammertbau in the Palatinate . Almost nothing is known of the style or quality of "German" wines that were produced in the Roman era, with the exception of the fact that the poet Venantius Fortunatus mentions red German wine around AD 570. Before the era of Charlemagne , Germanic viticulture was practiced primarily, although not exclusively, on
2001-406: The 1960s and 1970s, there was a downward trend, which was reversed around 1980. From mid-1990s and during the next decade, there was an almost explosive growth of plantation of red varieties. Plantings was shared between traditional Spätburgunder and a number of new crossings , led by Dornfelder, while other traditional German red varieties such as Portugieser only held their ground. From around 2005,
2070-429: The 1st century AD. However, it is not absolutely certain that these knives were used for viticultural purposes. Emperor Probus , whose reign can be dated two centuries later than these knives, is generally considered the founder of German viticulture, but for solid documentation of winemaking on German soil, we must go to around 370 AD, when Ausonius of Bordeaux wrote Mosella , where he in enthusiastic terms described
2139-472: The 50th parallel, which runs through the regions Rheingau and Mosel. Above this line the climate becomes less conducive to wine production, but there are still some vineyards above this line and the effects of climate change on wine production are growing. Because of the northerly climate, there has been a search for suitable grape varieties (particularly frost resistant and early harvesting ones), and many crosses have been developed, such as Müller-Thurgau in
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2208-700: The Loire Valley regions of Touraine and Orleans as well as the Cotes de Toul and Moselle regions. In these regions Pinot Meunier is used to make light bodied reds and rosés . These wines most often fall into the vin gris style are characterized by their pale pink color and distinctive smokey notes. In Germany , Pinot Meunier is used most often to make still red wines under its synonyms Schwarzriesling, Müllerrebe and Müller-Traube. The style of those wines ranges from simple, light, off-dry ( halbtrocken ) to rich, dry with substantial flavors. More recently, Schwarzriesling
2277-562: The Pinot Meunier is at its peak. A notable exception is the Champagne house of Krug which makes liberal use of Pinot Meunier in its long-lived prestige cuvee s. During the 19th century, Pinot Meunier was widely planted throughout northern France, especially in the Paris Basin . It was found across the northern half of country from the Loire Valley to Lorraine . Today, Pinot Meunier is found outside of Champagne in dwindling quantities in
2346-606: The Rhine river were incorporated into the French state. This included the wine regions Ahr, Mosel, Nahe, Rheinhessen, and Pfalz, i.e., the vast majority of German wine production. Since then the Napoleonic inheritance laws in Germany broke up the parcels of vineyards further, leading to the establishment of many cooperatives. However, many notable and world-famous wineries in Germany have managed to acquire or hold enough land to produce wine not only for domestic consumption, but also export. After
2415-453: The battle of Waterloo and Napoleon’s final defeat, the Rhineland (which encompasses the viticultural regions Mosel, Mittelrhein, Nahe and Ahr) fell to Prussia, while the Palatinate (Pfalz) fell to Bavaria. Hesse Darmstadt received what is today known as Rheinhessen. Many of the best vineyards were transferred to the new states, where they were wrapped up as state domains. Custom-free access to
2484-595: The courier delivering the harvest permission was delayed for two weeks, with the result that most of the grapes in Johannisberg's Riesling-only vineyard had been affected by noble rot before the harvest began. Unexpectedly, these "rotten grapes" gave a very good sweet wine, which was termed Spätlese , meaning late harvest . From this time, late harvest wines from grapes affected by noble rot have been produced intentionally. The subsequent differentiation of wines based on harvested ripeness, starting with Auslese in 1787, laid
2553-578: The differences between grape varieties, such as the VvMYBA1 and VvMYBA2 genes that control grape colour, or the VvGAI1 gene that is mutated in some cells of Pinot Meunier compared to Pinot noir . The original Galet Ampélographie Pratique is the definitive book, either in French or in English translation, but has long been out of print and does not include any DNA evidence. Germany (wine) German wine
2622-562: The export markets associating Germany with the world's most elegant and aromatically pure white wines while other see the country mainly as the source of cheap, mass-market semi-sweet wines such as Liebfraumilch . Among enthusiasts, Germany's reputation is primarily based on wines made from the Riesling grape variety, which at its best is used for aromatic, fruity and elegant white wines that range from very crisp and dry to well-balanced, sweet and of enormous aromatic concentration. While primarily
2691-417: The following relationship to each other, and to the quality wine regions: Overall nearly 135 grape varieties may be cultivated in Germany – 100 are released for white wine production and 35 for red wine production. According to the international image, Germany is still considered a region for white wine production. Since the 1980s, demand for German red wine has constantly increased, and this has resulted in
2760-717: The globe including-Auvernat Meunier, Blanc Meunier, Blanche Feuille, Carpinet, Cerny Mancujk, Créedinet, Dusty Miller, Farineux noir, Fernaise, Frésillon, Fromenté, Frühe blaue Müllerrebe, Goujeau, Gris Meunier, Meunier, Meunier Gris, Miller Grape, Miller's Burgundy, Molnár Töke, Molnár Töke Kék, Molnárszölö, Morillon Tacone, Morone Farinaccio, Moucnik, Müllerrebe, Muller-Traube, Noirin Enfariné, Noirien de Vuillapans, Pineau Meunier, Pino Meine, Pinot negro, Plant de Brie, Plant Meunier, Plant Munier, Postitschtraube, Rana Modra Mlinaria, Rana Modra Mlinarica, Resseau, Riesling noir, Sarpinet, Trézillon and Wrotham Pinot. Ampelographer Ampelography ( ἄμπελος , "vine" + γράφος, "writing")
2829-449: The grapes (either on the market each harvest year, or on long-term contract with larger wineries looking to supplement their own production), deliver the grapes to a winemaking cooperative (called Winzergenossenschaft in Germany), or sell the wine in bulk to winemaking firms that use them in "bulk brands" or as a base wine for Sekt . Those who own vineyards in truly good locations also have
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2898-538: The ground for the Prädikat system. These laws, introduced in 1971, define the designations still used today. At one point the Church controlled most of the major vineyards in Germany. Quality instead of quantity become important and spread quickly down the river Rhine. In the 1800s, Napoleon took control of all the vineyards from the Church, including the best, and divided and secularized them. In 1801, all German states west of
2967-522: The grower and producers of the wine: The German wine scene consists of many small craft oriented vineyard owners. The 1999 viticultural survey counted 68 598 vineyard owners, down from 76 683 in Western Germany in 1989/90, for an average size of 1.5 ha. Most of the 40 625 operators of less than 0.5 ha should likely be classified as hobby winemakers. The 2016 viticultural survey counted 15 931 vineyard owners. Two digit decreases of operating owners change
3036-404: The high acidity ("crispness") of many German wines, the taste profile of many halbtrocken wines fall within the "internationally dry" spectrum rather than being appreciably sweet. Feinherb wines are slightly more sweet than halbtrocken wines. Lieblich wines are noticeably sweet; except for the high category Prädikatsweine of type Beerenauslese and above, lieblich wines from Germany are usually of
3105-981: The insignificant table wine ( Tafelwein ) and country wine ( Landwein ) categories. Those regions, with a few exceptions overlap, with the quality wine regions. To make a clear distinction between the quality levels, the regions and subregions for different quality levels have different names on purpose, even when they are allowed to be produced in the same geographical area. There are 13 defined regions ("Anbaugebiete") in Germany: These 13 regions ( Anbaugebiete ) are broken down into 39 districts ( Bereiche ) which are further broken down into collective vineyard sites ( Großlagen ) of which there are 167. The individual vineyard sites ( Einzellagen ) number 2,658. Data from 2016. There are seven regions for Tafelwein ( Weinbaugebiete für Tafelwein ), three of which are divided into two or three subregions ( Untergebiete ) each, and 21 regions for Landwein ( Landweingebiete ). These regions have
3174-468: The juice) at the point of harvest of the grape. They have nothing to do with the sweetness of the wine after fermentation, which is one of the most common mis-perceptions about German wines. On wine labels, German wine may be classified according to the residual sugar of the wine. Trocken refers to dry wine. These wines have less than 9 grams/liter of residual sugar. Halbtrocken wines are off-dry and have 9–18 grams/liter of residual sugar. Due to
3243-438: The leading export markets both in terms of volume and value. Red wine has always been hard to produce in the German climate, and in the past was usually light-colored, closer to rosé or the red wines of Alsace . However recently there has been greatly increased demand and darker, richer red wines (often barrique -aged) are produced from grapes such as Dornfelder and Spätburgunder, the German name for Pinot noir . Perhaps
3312-585: The leaves. However, some clones of Pinot Meunier have been found to be completely hairless—a chimeric mutation, in fact—which has led ampelographers to more closely draw a link between Meunier and Pinot noir. In research, Paul K. Boss and Mark R. Thomas of the CSIRO Plant Industry and Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture in Glen Osmond , Australia , found that Pinot Meunier has a mutation ( VvGAI1 ) that stops it from responding to gibberellic acid ,
3381-507: The low Tafelwein category. The number of German wines produced in a lieblich style has dropped markedly since the style went out of fashion in the 1980s. In recent years, the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP), which is a private marketing club founded in 1910, has lobbied for the recognition of a vineyard classification, but its effort have not yet changed national law. There are also several terms to identify
3450-442: The most distinctive characteristic of German wines is the high level of acidity in them, caused both by the lesser ripeness in a northerly climate and by the selection of grapes such as Riesling , which retain acidity even at high ripeness levels. Viticulture in present-day Germany dates back to Ancient Roman times, to sometime from 70 to 270 CE/AD ( Agri Decumates ). In those days, the western parts of today's Germany made up
3519-458: The mutant (L1) and non-mutant (L2) genotypes, yielding a normal Pinot noir -like genotype and an unusual looking L1-genotype vine with compressed internodes and thickly clustered leaves. The mutants could not produce full-grown tendrils, it seems that gibberellic acid converts grapevine flower buds into tendrils. Pinot Meunier is one of the most widely planted grapes in France but it is rather obscure to most wine drinkers and will rarely be seen on
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#17328485152893588-612: The name Klebroth , from 1335 in Affenthal in Baden and from 1470 in Rheingau, where the monks kept a Clebroit-Wyngart in Hattenheim. The most grown variety in medieval Germany was however Elbling , with Silvaner also being common, and Muscat , Räuschling and Traminer also being recorded. For several centuries of the Medieval era, the vineyards of Germany (including Alsace) expanded, and
3657-417: The option of renting them out to larger producers to operate. A total of 5,864 vineyard owners owned more than 5 ha each in 2016, accounting for 81% of Germany's total vineyard surface, and it is in this category that the full-time vintners and commercial operations are primarily found. However, truly large wineries, in terms of their own vineyard holdings, are rare in Germany. Hardly any German wineries reach
3726-480: The outpost of the Roman empire against the Germanic tribes on the other side of Rhine. What is generally considered Germany's oldest city, Trier , was founded as a Roman garrison and is situated directly on the river Moselle ( Mosel ) in the eponymous wine region . The oldest archeological finds that may indicate early German viticulture are curved pruning knives found in the vicinity of Roman garrisons, dating from
3795-400: The proportion of red varieties has stabilized around 37%, about three times the 1980 level. White grape varieties account for 66% of the area planted in Germany. Principal varieties are listed below; there are larger numbers of less important varieties too. Red wine varieties account for 34% of the plantations in Germany but has increased in recent years. According to the German wine law ,
3864-574: The region's entire plantings. It is most prevalent in the cooler, north facing vineyards of the Vallee de la Marne and in the Aisne department . It is also widely grown in the Aube region in vineyards where Pinot noir and Chardonnay would not fully ripen. Compared to Pinot noir, Pinot Meunier produces lighter colored wines with slightly higher acid levels but can maintain similar sugar and alcohol levels. As part of
3933-508: The same time, the wine and table grape industries have been important since ancient times, so large sums of money can depend on the correct identification of different varieties and clones of grapevines. The science of ampelography began seriously in the 19th century, when it became important to understand more about the different species of vine, as they had very different resistance to disease and pests such as phylloxera . Many vine identification books were published at this time, one of which
4002-451: The sex of the flowers, the shape of the grape clusters and the colour, size and pips of the grapes themselves. The grapes are less affected by environmental factors than the leaves and the shoots, but are obviously not around for as long. He even included grape flavour as a criterion, but this is rather subjective. Galet then published the definitive book, Ampélographie pratique , in 1952, featuring 9,600 types of vine. Ampélographie pratique
4071-452: The size of New World winemaking companies, and only a few are of the same size as a typical Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé château. Of the ten wineries considered as Germany's best by Gault Millau Weinguide in 2007, nine had 10,2 — 19 ha of vineyards, and one ( Weingut Robert Weil , owned by Suntory ) had 70 ha. This means that most of the high-ranking German wineries each only produces around 100,000 bottles of wine per year. That production
4140-409: The state governments are responsible for drawing up lists of grape varieties allowed in wine production. The varieties listed below are officially permitted for commercial cultivation. The lists include varieties permitted only for selected experimental cultivation. Many of the best vineyards in Germany are steep vineyards overlooking rivers, where mechanisation is impossible and a lot of manual labour
4209-421: The steep valleys, to absorb the sun's heat and retain it overnight. On the rolling hills the soil is lime and clay dominated. The great sites are often extremely steep so they catch the most sunlight, but they are difficult to harvest mechanically. The slopes are also positioned facing the south or south-west to angle towards the sun. The vineyards are extremely small compared to New World vineyards and wine making
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#17328485152894278-430: The steep vineyards on the river Moselle. The wild vine , the forerunner of the cultivated Vitis vinifera is known to have grown on upper Rhine back to historic time, and it is possible (but not documented) that Roman-era German viticulture was started using local varieties. Many viticultural practices were however taken from other parts of the Roman empire, as evidenced by Roman-style trellising systems surviving into
4347-410: The structure. Many smaller vineyard owners do not pursue viticulture as a full-time occupation, but rather as a supplement to other agriculture or to hospitality. It is not uncommon for a visitor to a German wine region to find that a small family-owned Gasthaus has its own wine. Smaller grape-growers who do not wish to, or are unable to, commercialise their own wine have several options available: sell
4416-425: The technique include proving the identity of Zinfandel , Primitivo, and Crljenak Kaštelanski, and identifying the parents of Sangiovese as Ciliegiolo and Calabrese Montenuovo. Such exercises are giving valuable insight into historical patterns of trade and migration. DNA fingerprinting uses segments of DNA that do not affect the look or taste of the grapes. More recent work has identified the genes responsible for
4485-486: The vast Prussian markets in the east and the growing industrial clusters on the Ruhr and protection from non-Prussian competitors, including from southern German regions such Baden, Württemberg, Palatinate and Rheinhessen, fostered Mosel, Rhine, Nahe and Ahr winemakers, due to high tariff barriers for all other producers. The German wine regions are some of the most northerly in the world. The main wine-producing climate lies below
4554-511: The western side of Rhine. Charlemagne is supposed to have brought viticulture to Rheingau. The eastward spread of viticulture coincided with the spread of Christianity, which was supported by Charlemagne. Thus, in Medieval Germany, churches and monasteries played the most important role in viticulture, and especially in the production of quality wine. Two Rheingau examples illustrate this: archbishop Ruthard of Mainz (reigning 1089–1109) founded
4623-545: The wines (other than late harvest wines) were probably dry ( trocken ), as techniques to stop fermentation did not exist. Recently much more German white wine is being made in the dry style again. Much of the wine sold in Germany is dry, especially in restaurants. However most exports are still of sweet wines, particularly to the traditional export markets such as the United States , the Netherlands and Great Britain , which are
4692-485: Was Germany's most planted variety, after which it was eclipsed by Silvaner during the middle of the 20th century. After a few decades in the top spot, in the late 1960s Silvaner was overtaken by the high-yielding Müller-Thurgau, which in turn started to lose ground in the 1980s. From the mid-1990s, Riesling became the most planted variety, a position it probably had never enjoyed before on a national level. Red grapes in Germany have experienced several ups and downs. Throughout
4761-532: Was translated into English by Lucie Morton, published in 1979 and updated in 2000. In 2012, Italian publisher L'Artistica Editrice published Illustrated Historical Universal Ampelography , a three volume set which contains the most important books edited in France and Italy between 1800 and 1900: the Ampélographie of Pierre Viala and Victor Vermorel, the grapes section of Pomona Italiana by Count Giorgio Gallesio and
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