History
The vine is one of the oldest plants in the world. The Romans brought it to Germania more than 2,000 years ago.
Facts
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2.000
years of viticulture
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66
highlights of the wine culture
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100 Mio.
years since the first wild vine
Wines of Germany - 2000 Year Tradition
Today's grape varieties evolved during a centuries-long process of selection. The wild vines that tasted best and seemed best-suited for winemaking were cultivated and ulimately developed into the species known as vitis vinifera. There is evidence that viticulture existed thousands of years before Christ, especially in the highly developed Middle Eastern civilizations that today correspond to modern Egypt, Iran or Israel. Grapes were also cultivated in Greece and Italy during the pre-Christian era. In Asia Minor, Dionysus was worshipped as the god of wine; Bacchus was his Roman counterpart.
In the course of their conquests north of the Alps some 2,000 years ago, the Romans - who adopted viticulture from the Greeks and Etruscans - introduced viticulture to the Germanic territories. It would have been cumbersome to transport the wine across the Alps in heavy amphorae, so they brought the vines instead and planted them in suitable areas. Even then, these “Nordic” wines were seemingly fresher and more diverse in taste than their southern predecessors.
In the 8th century, Charlemagne regulated viticulture, winemaking as well as wine-related commerce. Above all, the monasteries were centers of wine culture and wine the predominant drink, serving as a replacement for the frequently polluted drinking water. Documents show that vineyards existed in nearly all of Germany during the Middle Ages. However, due to climatic changes, improved methods of brewing beer and increased imports of wine, the area under vine continually decreased after 1500.
The church’s dominance over wine-growing was abolished by the conquests of Napoleon in the areas left of the Rhine. Fortunately, the new vineyard owners also attached great importance to quality and wines from the Rhine and Mosel achieved international success in England, Bohemia and Russia.
Many vineyards were still planted with several grape varieties side by side as late as the 19th century. This all practically came to a standstill however, when at the end of the 1800s, the vine louse phylloxera wreaked havoc on Europe’s vineyards. As a result, many indigenous grape varieties disappeared. Viticulture revived at the turn of the century with the introduction of grafting vines on phylloxera-resistant American rootstocks - a practice that was later made mandatory. Vine breeding and selection led to the standard grape varieties that are predominant in modern German viticulture.
Thanks to the close cooperation between research, science and winemakers, a number of innovations in vineyard and cellar technology have been implemented. This know-how has become an export hit as much as the wines themselves, and influences wine countries as far as South Africa, Australia, California or Chile. Innovation is the one thing that German wines have in particular. That may sound a bit theoretic or even technical, but without this ability, there would be no wonderful delights like Dornfelder or Kerner. Both varieties were not grown until 1955 or 1929 respectively, and have long since fought for a place alongside grape varieties such as Riesling or Pinot Noir.
To explore Germany’s wine history further, there are several wine museums in the different growing regions, for example, Speyer, Bernkastel-Kues on the Mosel and Oppenheim.
Ampelography means grape varietal science. From which Greek words is this composed?
The first part of the word - ampelos - describes the vine, while the second part - gráphein - is derived from the Greek verb for "to write".
Varietals
More recipe ideas
Tips from Chinese cuisine CHINA : Steamed scallops with vermicelli
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with selected Asian dishes. With a lighter alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in the case of red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a wide range of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 4 Scallops
- 1 Bündel Mung bean noodles
- 2 Garlic
- 12 Cloves
- 2 EL Oil
- 1,5 EL Chinese rice wine
- 1 EL Light soy sauce
- 1 Fresh chili
- 2 Spring onions
PREPARATION
1. Clean the scallops, take out the scallop meat and marinate in the rice wine. Wash the shells.
2. Mash the garlic, mince the spring onions and the fresh chilli.
3. Heat a pan with oil over high heat, add garlic and fresh chilli, stir for 1-2 minutes, then put it into a bowl, add light soy sauce and mix well to make the garlic paste.
4. Place the vermicelli in a bowl and soak in warm water for 5 minutes until soft.
5. Take the scallop shells, arrange the vermicelli across these, and place a scallop on each.
6. Pour the garlic sauce evenly over the scallops.
7. Steam the scallops for 6 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions.
- Riesling (trocken)
- Grauburgunder / Pinot Gris (trocken)
- Riesling (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Grauburgunder / Pinot Gris (halbtrocken & feinherb)
Tips from Asian cuisine CHINA : Dumpling
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with select Asian dishes. With a lower alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a variety of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 500g Flour
- 240ml Warm water
- 400g Minced pork
- 100g Celery
- 1 TL Salt
- 1/2 TL Sugar
- 3 EL Light soy sauce
- 1 EL Oyster sauce
- 2 EL Oil
- 100 ml Water
PREPARATION
MAKE DUMPLING WRAPPERS
Pour flour into a large bowl, add 240ml warm water and stir until well-combined.
Wash and dry hands. Dip in some dry flour and knead the dough until it becomes smooth.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour.
MAKE DUMPLING STUFFING
Mix minced pork, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, oil and 100ml water, stir well and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Chop the celery and pat dry with kitchen towel.
Take the pork out of the fridge, add chopped celery and stir well.
MAKE DUMPLINGS
Divide the dough into 8g pieces.
Rub the dough with a rolling pin and press into a circle about 7cm in diameter.
Take 15g stuffing and put it in the center of the dumpling wrapper. Fold the wrappers, use fingers to press the edges together.
BOIL DUMPLINGS
Fill in a clean pot with water, and bring to the boil. Pour in an appropriate amount of dumplings according to the size of the pot, and boil them until they rise to the surface.
Take out the dumplings and serve.
- Pinot Blanc (trocken)
- Pinot Blanc (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Silvaner (trocken)
- Silvaner (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (trocken)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (halbtrocken & feinherb)
Tips from Japanese cuisine JAPAN : Soy braised pork
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with selected Asian dishes. With a lighter alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in the case of red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a wide range of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 1 kg Pork belly
- 120 ml German white wine
- 80 ml Soy sauce
- 80 ml Honey
- 50 ml Water
- 4 cm Leek (green part)
- 3 Ginger (thin slices)
- 4 Boiled eggs
- 1 Vegetables such as Chinese cabbage
PREPARATION
1. Cut the pork belly into large pieces to fit your pan.
Put the frying pan on high heat. When it gets hot, add pork belly, browning all sides, and then put in a saucepan. Add enough water to completely cover the meat.
Add ginger and leek and put on high heat.
2. When it starts to boil, turn the heat down low and boil for around 1.5 hours until the meat is soft (test with a fork). If it is drying out, add more water and let the dish boil slowly.
3. Let the soup cool down, then remove the meat and cut into blocks of about 4-5 cm square. (If you cool it down well at this stage, the meat will not become dry.)
4. Put meat and all the other seasoning except soy sauce, into a new pan (which fits the meat neatly) and heat. When it boils, turn the heat to low and cook for around 5 mins, then add soy sauce.
5. Place a plate, which fits snugly into the pan, directly on the meat (a drop lid is also acceptable). Boil for about 30 minutes.
6. Remove pork from the pan, put the boiled eggs and green vegetable to season them, and boil the broth to half the volume.
Put the meat back in and mix well with the broth. Put meat on a plate, add boiled egg or boiled green vegetables and pour over broth.
- Lemberger (trocken)
- Dornfelder (trocken)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (trocken)
- Lemberger (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Dornfelder (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (halbtrocken & feinherb)
Tips from Japanese cuisine JAPAN : Sashimi
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with selected Asian dishes. With a lighter alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in the case of red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a wide range of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 200g Tuna Sashimi
- 200g-250g Squid sashimi
- 8 Blätter Green Shiso
- 10g Spice (garnish, white radish sprouts, etc.)
- 10g Soy sauce, wasabi
- 1,5 EL Soy sauce
- 1 EL Red wine
- 1 TL Olive oil
PREPARATION
1. Mix the sauce in a sandwich bag (ziplock). Put the tuna in it, remove any air, seal and leave it in the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight.
2. Make a thin cut of about 2 mm on one surface of squid. Turn it over and place green shiso on the front. Roll up from the front and cut into pieces for easy eating.
3. Dry the tuna with a paper towel and cut into bite-sized pieces.
4. Serve tuna and squid with condiments, soy and wasabi.
- Pinot Blanc (trocken)
- Silvaner (trocken)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (trocken)
- Pinot Blanc (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Silvaner (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (halbtrocken & feinherb)
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