In 2021, some major changes to the 1971 German Wine Law were announced, which come into full effect with the upcoming 2026 harvest. In anticipation of the new vintage, here is a refresher on how things were and how they will differ going forward.
The 1971 German Wine Law
Until 1971, German wines were produced from an enormous variety of vineyards and villages based on historical reputation, with scant and idiosyncratic labelling that barely explained the style and quality of the wine in the bottle. The year 1971 brought standardisation: 13 winegrowing regions (Anbaugebiete) were ratified, and with them a new quality standard came into force, Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA), literally "quality wine from a specific region". This ensured a level of provenance, with wines submitted to a tasting panel that would judge them for typicity before permitting them to be labelled as QbA.
Quälitatswein mit Prädikatswein
Above this came the Prädikatswein, or Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP), which translates as "Quality Wine with Distinction", a scale based on minimum and maximum must weights (the level of natural sugars in harvested grapes, measured in Oechsle). This codified some traditional terms which had been used for hundreds of years and provided a scale from delicate, racy, off-dry Kabinett, through weightier, late-harvest Spätlesen and Auslesen, as well as the highly specialised, incredibly concentrated and intense Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen; Eiswein was included later in 1982.
Is sweeter wine better?
While Prädikatswein certainly made the style of wine within the bottle clearer, it also suggests that greater ripeness equals greater quality."
We can agree that there is a correlation between ripeness and quality; after all, a better site (a warmer, sunnier one) will produce riper more delicious than a cool, sheltered one. In the Mosel or Rheingau, for example, this might be a steep, south-facing hillside above the river. Many famous vineyards have built their reputations over hundreds of years along such stretches, such as the Goldtröpfchen ("gold droplet") vineyard in Piesport, or the Berg Roseneck ("mountain rose hedge") vineyard in Rüdesheim.
Sweeter fruit doesn’t necessarily mean sweeter wine, however. If the sugars are fermented out, the result is a dry wine with higher alcohol. For Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese you could add the suffix "Trocken" to indicate this.
A system that appeared to reward ripeness led to fewer quality-minded producers growing the noble Riesling, choosing instead Müller-Thurgau, which cropped more heavily and earlier, and with dependably higher levels of sugar. This is how the likes of Liebfraumilch gained popularity as quality sadly dwindled.
While sweetness, rightly, is not an indicator of quality, do please note that when we're talking about single vineyard wines and quality producers, sweet wines are passion projects - there is a lot of love, hard work, skill (and good fortune) involved in getting those ripe grapes safely into a wine press
Großlagen
Another contentious facet of the 1971 German Wine Law was an idea driven by efficiency: the Grosslage designation. The purpose was to simplify things for the consumer and to help larger producers be more consistent with their offerings by reducing the many thousands (around 30,000) of individual vineyards (Einzellagen) into fewer than 3,000 sites and then grouping them within a more manageable 163 Grosslagen.
The issue was that these Grosslagen included the name of a well-regarded locality but often covered a very broad area, encompassing lesser-quality vineyards on flat land which bore little or no resemblance to the key name on the label. Take Piesporter Michelsberg or Rüdesheimer Rosengarten as two prime examples - serviceable wines, but a far cry from the real thing.
The VDP
Before we get into the updates of the German Wine Law, a note on the VDP (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter), a group that today stands at about 200 German wine producers/estates who have long upheld quality standards whilst also promoting the idea of site expression. It’s a long, complicated history worthy of its own blog, first created as a collection of regional “auctioneers of natural wines”, through the numerous difficulties and disruptions of the early-mid 20th century, before reinventing itself when the 1971 German Wine Laws came in to being.
The VDP has long operated alongside/outside (depending on your point of view) the German Wine Law, and in 2001/02 formalised a tiered quality system based on origin. This was amended a decade later and it is fair to say has influenced the broader changes to the German Wine Law – see if you can spot any similarities here:
The four quality categories of the VDP
Gutswein is an entry-level wine, otherwise known as Estate wine, and must be produced solely from estate-grown grapes.
Ortswein are village wines. Dry wines are labelled as Qualitätswein Trocken, otherwise the Prädikat scale remains in place.
Erste Lage are premier cru vineyards and the VDP do insist on sustainable practices. All harvesting by hand, dry examples labelled as Qualitätswein Trocken, Prädikat for the sweeter styles.
Grosse Lage are grand cru vineyards. Same as for Erste Lage although the dry wines are known here as Grosse Gewächs and will feature an embossed ‘GG’ on the neck of the bottle. Prädikat (fruity/sweet) versions are also permitted.
VDP estates and wines can be easily identified by their ‘grape eagle’ logo – a silhouetted ‘Schwarzer Adler’ (Black Eagle) with a stylized bunch of grapes contrasted in white, and the GG and 1G monikers which represent Großes Gewächs and Erstes Gewächs wines.
So what has changed for German wine?
The 2021 proposals have given producers five years to organise themselves, as they become law with the 2026 vintage, bringing the focus back to origin and more in line with other European winemaking countries that better fit EU legislation. Burgundy fans will certainly see similarities, especially at the top of the quality pyramid, with the idea being very much "the more specific the geographic area, the higher the presumed quality".
Image credit: Wines of Germany/ Deutsches Weininstitut
The Pyramids
Think of this like a Russian Doll: The first pyramid is three tiers, (from base to tip): Deutscher Wein, Landwein, and Qualitätswein. Qualitätswein is its own pyramid of four tiers (from base to tip): Anbaugebiet, Region, Ort, and Lage; Lage (Lagenwein) is then another three-tiered pyramid (from base to tip): Einzellage, Erstes Gewächs and Großes Gewächs.
Deutscher Wein
At the base of this pyramid, we have Deutscher Wein. We see very little over here and it represents a very small percentage of German wine production. There are no specific geographical requirements except the grapes must have been grown in Germany.
Landwein
Next is wine with a geographical indication – what we now call a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), known in German as geschützte geografische Angabe (or g.g.A. for short). Wines in this category must be labelled with one of the 26 Landwein regions, with at least 85% of the fruit coming from the stated region. While this category represents less than 10% of German wine production, it is growing because it gives winemakers greater freedom to experiment with different grape varieties and winemaking techniques, or to bottle without filtration, and it has become a home for the burgeoning "natural wine" movement. Think of it as the French Vin de Pays.
Qualitätswein (Dry) & Prädikatswein (Fruity/Sweet)
The top section of the quality pyramid is more specific still: geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnung (g.U.) or, in English, Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). These wines must come from one of Germany’s 13 winegrowing regions (Anbaugebiete). These wines are known as Qualitätswein, while the sweeter fruchtig wines are accommodated by the term Prädikatswein (shortened from Qualitätswein mit Prädikat).
Qualitätswein must be dry and can be lightly enriched (chaptalised) to increase the ABV, but Prädikatswein cannot - these must naturally achieve minimum levels of sugar at harvest and post-fermentation, essentially bringing an end to confusing terms like "Kabinett Trocken", "Spätlese Trocken", and "Auslese Trocken".
As we focus in from the Anbaugebiete, we have Region, a designation which replaces the old Bereich (district) term and must be featured on a label ahead of any Grosslagen. For example, Region Michelsberg replaces Piesporter Michelsberg, making it clear that such a wine comes from a broad region, and not the village of Piesport.
Next, we have Ortswein, or Village Wine. At least 85% of the fruit must come from within the boundaries of a stated Ort, from permitted varietals only, and is subject to a tasting panel that will assess for typicity. Wines must be of at least Kabinett level in terms of ripeness.
Lagenwein focuses on single vineyards (Einzellagen) and this is where we also find the Erstes Gewächs (premier cru) and Großes Gewächs (grand cru) sites. For the sake of clarity, the VDP has its own distinction here: Erste Lage and Große Lage. When a VDP Erste Lage wine is produced as a dry wine, it becomes Erstes Gewächs, likewise a dry Große Lage wine becomes Großes Gewächs. VDP member wines which are produced this way, will feature their trademarked 1G and GG monikers prominently on the label, and in the case of GG, embossed on the glass too.
Summary of German Wine Changes
The new laws will help consumers to more easily compare German wines with their European counterparts. The identification of drier wines will be far easier because the old Prädikat terms remain and are exclusively used for sweeter, fruitier styles. Grape varietal and place of origin will be clearly marked, and where producers need leeway, there is Landwein.
We eagerly await how the changes actually manifest with the 2026 wines but in the meantime, 2025 was a fabulous vintage - keep an eye out for the amazing wines of Weingut Willi Schaefer, Dönnhoff, and Max Ferd. Richter!
