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German Wine Guide: The Prädikat and the AP Number

German Wine Guide:

Introduction
Laws & Classifications
Prädikat & AP Number
German Wine Dictionary
The Saar
The Ruwer
The Middle Mosel Part 1
The Middle Mosel Part 2
The Nahe
The Rheingau
Rheinhessen
The Pfalz

I've already noted in my introduction that in previous centuries the wines of Germany commanded much wider respect, as well as higher prices, than they do today. It is only fair to point out, however, that those wines were very different to those of the 21st Century, and this may have some bearing on the subsequent failure of the German wine industry. Today any consumer of German wine is familiar with the Prädikat, a classification system which describes, albeit imperfectly, the style of wine in the bottle. From a single plot of land we might expect a myriad of styles, ranging from dry to sweet, perhaps bone dry, perhaps botrytised; all very different, although all labelled remarkably similarly, save for the Prädikat. Two centuries ago, however, the wines would have been more extensively blended, more completely fermented, and thus more full bodied and richer in alcohol, although probably not in residual sugar. These were very different wines, still potentially very respectful of the terroir (obviously depending on how they were blended), but importantly creating a more readily identifiable house style than the wines of today.

Nevertheless, the Prädikat is here to stay, for the time being at least. There are new classification systems which aim to make the Prädikat obsolete, although only in certain circumstances; labelling a wine as Grosses Gewächs renders any mention of Spätlese on the label unnecessary, for example, as this is a basic requirement for the category, but it will never comprehensively replace the Prädikat which describes a much broader range of styles. And the majority of wine estates, especially the great estates which produce the most sought-after wines, seem to be continuing, at least for the moment, with Prädikat labelling, a system now regarded as traditional and the norm by many drinkers of German wine.

The Prädikat

Most wines exported from Germany will be of Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP) quality, which from the 2007 vintage has been shortened to Prädikatswein, and this is the top classification level. There are lower categories, including Tafelwein (equivalent to French vin de table), and one step up is Landwein (perhaps equivalent to French vin de pays). In general there are no wines of interest in these categories. The next step up are the Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) wines. A key difference between the QbA and QmP categories is that the former may be Chaptalised, whereas the latter may not legally be manipulated in this way. All may be subject to the addition of süssreserve, however, akin to the dosage in Champagne, so there is always an opportunity for blatant manipulation at some point!

It is the QmP wines that, as the name suggests, bear one of the Prädikat categories on the label. The Prädikat describes the character of the wine in the bottle but, as I stated earlier, it does this in an imperfect way. This is because the Prädikat is determined not by any characteristic of the finished wine, but rather by the concentration of sugars (must weight) in the must (grape juice) that was fermented in order to make the wine. It stands to reason that a must rich in sugar will produce a sweet wine, as not all of that sugar will be converted to alcohol by the fermentation process. For lesser must weights, however, the fermentation will have a more significant impact on the style of the final wine. There are no limits on levels of alcohol or residual sugar in the final wine, so two wines with the same concentration of sugar prior to fermentation may taste quite different afterwards, depending on how much of the sugar has been converted to alcohol. A full fermentation may produce a dry wine, richer in alcohol, whereas a more traditional approach may yield a wine with less alcohol but more residual sugar, producing a sweeter style.

German wine: Pradikat and AP number Vintages also have a significant effect, as in a very warm year such as 2003 and perhaps even 2005, the grapes are harvested in a healthy, ripe condition and the must weight will be higher than in lesser vintages. As a result, those wines labelled as Kabinett may be made from juice with a must weight far in excess of that legally required for this category, and thus the wine will taste unusually rich for a Kabinett. It may even meet the legal criteria for a Spätlese, but be bottled and labelled as a Kabinett, perhaps because the wine does not meet the standards the winemaker wishes of his Spätlesen, or because this is the only way to ensure the estate's portfolio still includes a Kabinett for those that wish to buy at this level.

So there are problems, but the system is ubiquitous, and even crops up in Austria although many wines there simply declare themselves to be Qualitätswein, and can be assumed to be dry. In Germany here are six Prädikat levels in usage; the first three are made from grapes with a progressively higher must weight, and range from off-dry to very sweet. The next three levels are always intensely sweet, and are produced using methods described in my guide to sweet wines. It is not necessary to remember any of the details regarding required must weight for the six levels of the Prädikat (although I have presented them below), merely the order in which they sit, and also to appreciate that the values for different regions overlap - so that before fermentation a Mosel Auslese, to give just one example, might have had the same must weight as a Pfalz Spätlese. Broadly speaking (very broadly), requirements are more stringent the further south the vineyard, so that the Rheingau, Pfalz and Rheinhessen classifications demand a higher must weight than the Nahe, which must in turn be higher than the Mosel (including the Saar and Ruwer).

As a starting point, wines classified as QbA must reach 51 Oechsle for the Mosel (which from 2007 is the catch-all term to describe what was previously known as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) and Mittelrhein, 57 Oechsle for the Nahe and Rheingau and 60 Oechsle for the Pfalz and Rheinhessen. The Prädikatsweins, meanwhile, are as follows:

Kabinett: In theory this is the lightest prädikatswein. As indicated above, however, in ripe years this category may well be produced from grapes that are easily of Spätlese quality. The minimum required Oechsle values are 70 for the Mosel, Mittelrhein and Nahe and 73 for the Pfalz, Rheingau and Rheinhessen.
Spätlese: This translates literally as 'late harvest', the extra time spent on the vine being the reason for higher sugar concentrations prior to fermentation. The minimum required Oechsle values are 76 for the Mosel and Mittelrhein, 78 for the Nahe and 85 for the Pfalz, Rheingau and Rheinhessen.
Auslese: This means 'selective harvest', and these wines are made from selected bunches, taken late in the harvest, that have higher sugar concentrations than spätlese. The principle of harvest later to produce a richer style of wine, possibly even a very sweet wine, is described in my article on the late harvest style. The minimum required Oechsle values are 83 for the Mosel and Mittelrhein, 85 for the Nahe, 92 for the Pfalz and Rheinhessen and 95 for the Rheingau.
Beerenauslese: The term beerenauslese translates as 'selected grapes', and refers to wines produced from grapes individually selected for the purpose. The grapes are generally dehydrated by botrytis, the basis for the world's greatest sweet wines, including Sauternes and Tokay. The minimum required Oechsle values are 110 for the Mosel and Mittelrhein, 120 for the Nahe, Pfalz and Rheinhessen and 125 for the Rheingau.
Trockenbeerenauslese: The term trockenbeerenauslese means 'dry berry selection', and refers to the individual grapes which have been shrivelled to a dry state by botrytis, and consequently selected for this wine. The minimum required Oechsle values is a heady 150 regardless of the origin of the wine.
Eiswein: Meaning literally 'ice wine', these wines are made from grapes which have been left on the vine well into winter, and have been frozen prior to picking. The principles involved in the production of these wines, common in Germany and increasingly so in Canada, are explained in my eiswein article. Here it is the method of production that is more important than the Oechsle value.

Very close to the Prädikat on the label is another feature unique to German wine, the Amtliche Prüfnummer. Understandably this is commonly abbreviated to just AP Nr, and it can also be extremely useful, particularly when searching for a particular wine.

The AP Number

German wine guide The top estates in Germany do not limit themselves to the six styles suggested above. From an individual estate there may be, in any one vintage, any number of different Kabinette, Spätlesen and Auslesen all from the same vineyard. Some producers have novel ways of distinguishing between wines, such as stars or numbered bottlings, and in many cases the colour of the capsule is important, a Goldkapsel (gold capsule) denoting a very special, rich Auslese. All this simply adds to the confusion, and it is why the Amtliche Prüfnummer (or AP number) is so useful. This code is unique to the wine in question, and all wines of note must, by law, bear their AP number.

For the wine illustrated above, the AP number (2 577 050 10 02) breaks down as follows:

2 indicates the region of production, in this case the Mosel.
577 indicates the village, in this case Brauneberg.
050 denotes the estate; this number will be unique to Fritz Haag.
10 is the number unique to this bottling. In this case Wilhelm Haag (who was running the estate in 2001) has helpfully presented this in bold, as this is clearly an important element in the number for this wine; there will no doubt be several other bottlings at the Auslese level from the Juffer-Sonenuhr vineyard in this vintage. The number in this case matches the fuder (barrel) number, but this is only because Wilhelm will have numbered the barrels to match the AP number, rather than the AP number being governed by what lies in the Fritz Haag cellars.
02 denotes the year of tasting (2002). In most cases this will be the year after the vintage.

As well as the Prädikat and the AP number, the keen-eyed will notice some other unusual terms on the label above. The next instalment is a quick guide to some of the more unusual German wine terms, which will hopefully form a handy reference when exploring the wines of this great nation.

Next instalment: The German Wine Dictionary