German wines are classified according to the maturity of grapes at the time of picking, which is different from the classification methods of most "old world" countries (such as France, Italy, Spain, etc.) according to wineries or producing areas. The main reason is that the climate is cold, and the maturity of grapes has a great influence on wine. For high-quality wines, the maturity of grapes will be marked on the wine label, and only German and Austrian wines in the world will have such information on the wine label. In addition, this classification system has also promoted the promotion of German wines to a certain extent, because the pronunciation and spelling of German characters are unique. If it is classified according to the producing area or winery, it is estimated that only experts know the difference.

At the same time, although grape maturity is an indicator for setting "quality standards" in German grading system, it is not necessarily related to the "quality" of a bottle of wine. Moreover, although the sugar content in grapes is a measure of grape maturity, it does not mean that the wine must be sweet. Please remember that most German wines are dry or semi-dry.

Although the Wine Law appeared in Germany as early as 193, the truly meaningful German wine law was revised and implemented in 1971, which formally divided German wine into multiple grades. However, the classification system is complicated and special, which is based on the maturity of grapes, and the maturity is mainly divided by the sugar content of grapes. Simply speaking, German wines can be divided into two categories-high-quality wines and ordinary wines. The category of high-quality wine has strict regulations on the selection of grape varieties of origin, the harvest period, the alcohol content of the wine produced and the contents marked on the wine label, and it is divided into two grades: QmP and QbA. It is also divided into two grades: regional table wine (Landwein) and daily table wine (Tafelwein).

(QMP-qualita tsweinmit Pradikat): the highest grade of German wine.

according to the increase of grape maturity, it is divided into six subdivision grades, and sugar is not allowed in the brewing process.

-kabinett

is made from grapes harvested in normal picking season;

-spatle

Grapes will be picked 7 to 1 days after they are ripe, and the aroma and body are stronger than Kabinett, which can be dry or slightly sweet;

-auslese

on the basis of Spatlese, select very mature grapes one by one, and remove the grapes that are not ripe. This grade of wine is often brewed only in good years. The overall performance of wine will be higher, usually with sweetness and more expensive;

-Beerenausle

referred to as BA for short, the grapes with Noble rot (or Botrytis cinerea) are selected by hand one by one, and the sugar content of grapes is very high, making expensive and high-quality sweet wine;

-selected grapes

abbreviated as TBA, grapes are not picked until they are basically dry. Because the sugar concentration is very high, it is difficult to ferment normally, so the alcohol content is less than 6 degrees, and it needs to be aged for more than 1 years. Of course, the price is sky-high, and the world's most expensive white wine "Egon Muller's selection of dried grapes" belongs to this category;

-eiswein (ice wine)

The grapes were not picked until the snowy day, and the grapes were ripe to the degree of being selected one by one. The water inside the grapes was frozen, and the ice cubes were removed by squeezing, leaving the concentrated juice for wine making.

German top sweet wines are basically made from Riesling grapes, but ice wines are not necessarily, and sometimes even made from red grape variety Black Pi Nuo. In addition, due to the influence of the cold climate, wineries often choose to brew QbA and Kabinett wines with lighter, higher acidity and shorter aftertaste, and only in good years will they brew higher-grade wines.

In addition, after 2, there is actually a fourth classification, and there are two more labels for German dry wines --Classic and Selection (which actually belong to the above QbA grade):

Classic

is used to indicate the "producing area/variety" wine, and simply indicate the producing area and grape variety on the wine label, which is relatively light, low in alcohol content and brewing. Add the word Classic after it. The sugar content of this wine does not exceed 15%, that is, the sugar content of each liter of wine does not exceed 15 grams;

Selection

is used to indicate that the grapes in the "producing area/variety" wine are planted in and vineyards. The wine label will indicate the producing area, grape variety and Selection, followed by the name of the village and the name of the vineyard. The sugar content of this wine does not exceed 12%.