Germany

The Rhineland-Palatinate viticulture service (DLR) dates the first archaeological evidence of vine-growing on the Mosel to the 2nd century AD, and Weinland Nahe and the German Wine Institute also trace the Nahe and Rheinhessen vineyards to Roman times. Monasteries spread the vine in the Middle Ages: a charter of the abbey of Lorsch from 766 names Norheim on the Nahe, and Cistercians founded Kloster Eberbach in the Rheingau in 1136. The German Wine Institute dates the discovery of the late harvest to Johannisberg in 1775.

On 27 November 1910 four associations of estates that auctioned unsugared "natural wine", from the Rheingau, Rheinhessen, the Pfalz and Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, founded the VDNV, today's VDP. The Weingesetz passed on 14 July 1971 replaced "Naturwein" with Prädikatswein, defined the Prädikate by must weight, merged many site names into Einzellagen and Großlagen and required an official test number for every bottled quality wine. The VDP, which blamed the law for devaluing site names, adopted its own four-tier site classification in 2012.

The German Wine Institute lists thirteen regions, most of them in the south-west and many along river valleys, and stresses that at this latitude slope, exposure and soil decide ripening. The EU technical files for the regions of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse show two main geological settings. The Mosel, the Nahe and the lower Rheingau cut into the Devonian slates, quartzites and sandstones of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. Rheinhessen, the Pfalz and the upper Rheingau lie on Tertiary and Quaternary sediments and loess of the Mainz Basin and the Upper Rhine Graben, with Rotliegend rocks at Nierstein and across much of the Nahe.

Mean vineyard altitudes in these files are modest: about 170 m in the Pfalz, 175 m in Rheinhessen, 180 m on the Mosel and 210 m on the Nahe. Annual means run from 9.3 °C on the Nahe to 10.6 °C in the Rheingau, and rainfall from about 550 mm in Rheinhessen to 760 mm on the Mosel. The Weingesetz sets separate minimum natural alcohol levels for EU wine-growing zones A and B.

The regional specifications tie wine character to the same set of factors: a long growing season, the topography, the local climate and the make-up of the soil, together with the growers' work. They then describe different results. The Mosel file speaks of a delicate to full-bodied palate with fine acidity and natural minerality, and the Rheingau file of varietal aromas with, in part, high minerality. The Pfalz file describes fuller-bodied whites with moderate acidity that suit dry styles, and the Rheinhessen file soft-acid, tannic reds that need some time. The Nahe file assigns a different aroma profile to each rock: peach and apricot from Devonian soils, green apple and citrus from light sandstone, apricot, melon and mango from the upper Rotliegend.

The Weingesetz fixes thirteen Anbaugebiete for quality wine: Ahr, Baden, Franken, Hessische Bergstraße, Mittelrhein, Mosel, Nahe, Pfalz, Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Saale-Unstrut, Sachsen and Württemberg. Each is an EU protected designation of origin with its own specification. Qualitätswein and the Prädikate Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese need at least 7% vol actual alcohol, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein 5.5%. A Prädikat is granted only with an official test number; Kabinett may not be enriched, and Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese must be picked by hand.

The Weinverordnung sets label rules. A Bereich or Großlage name must be preceded by the word "Region". A village name requires at least the Kabinett must weight and no sale to consumers before 15 December of the harvest year; a single vineyard requires the village name and no sale before 1 March of the following year. "Steillage" requires a slope of at least 30%. The VDP's private classification has four tiers, Gutswein, Ortswein, Erste Lage and Große Lage; dry wines from a Große Lage are sold as Großes Gewächs.