Organic wine Germany

German organic wines

Our German organic wines come from Baden, Rheinhessen, Franconia and the Rheingau. With the exception of Lorch in the Rheingau, which is only 1 wheel of latitude further north than Champagne at the 50th parallel north, the other German wine-growing regions are located at the level of Chablis, Alsace and the wine regions on the Loire on the western side of the Rhine .

Although the climatic conditions on both sides of the Rhine at identical latitudes are very similar in terms of temperature and rainfall, the respective wines and organic wines differ very clearly from one another.

So what's the difference? Maybe because of the very liberal wine law in Germany, which allows significantly higher harvest quantities for so-called quality wines? The low must weight (low sugar content with high acidity at the same time could also be a reason?

As a result, the growth of grapes and leaves on German vines is denser, which prevents them from being aerated and therefore leads to greater infestation of the vines and grapes with fungal diseases. At the same time, the ripening of the grapes, which often have too high an acid content in relation to the sugar content, is delayed. Simple quality wines (QbA) may therefore be chaptalized, i.e. enriched with sugar before fermentation, which increases the alcohol of a fully fermented wine, or, if fermentation is stopped, more residual sugar remains in the wine, which in turn neutralizes the taste of the excess acid.

All this could be avoided if the crop yield was reduced to 50 to 70 hl/hectare during the vegetative phase by removing excess grapes.

This would not only increase the quality of German organic wine, but also their prices.

Of course, there is also organic wine in Germany that comes from quality-conscious organic wine producers who voluntarily undercut the harvest quantity limit.

As a rule, organic viticulture in southern Europe is less susceptible to fungal attack on the vines. On the other hand, extreme heat and drought cause problems.

However, there may also be other reasons why there is relatively little organic wine production in Germany. Is it the general negative mood towards the organic and environmental movement, towards something that people have no idea about and don't want to deal with. In addition, German organic wines cost a little more than conventional wines. n easier to save than on food and drink?

Politics also contributes to discrediting organic winegrowing in Germany, as Christine Schneider (EPP), CDU member and EU representative for Rhineland-Palatinate, explained on January 17, 2023 at the Palatinate Viticulture Day in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. "The EU Commission's plans to ban the use of plant protection products in certain protected areas are off the table for the time being. Instead, it is now proposed to allow plant protection, and thus widespread viticulture, in the sensitive areas - but only certified organically. The conventional one This would threaten the end of viticulture. Schneider therefore called on producers to stick together (source: Weinwirtschaft).

Our question is, would that be a loss?

Is it that organic viticulture in Germany that threatens the wine industry in Germany? There are other reasons for this, as a small wine grower recently told me who cleared his 7,500 square meter vineyard and no longer wanted to replant it. It was the end of February on a tour of the vineyards on the Baden mountain road. He delivered 7,800 kg of grapes (5,850 l of wine) to the cooperative last fall and received €2,300 (0.39/liter) for it in February. The sprays used in the vineyard would have cost €1,800. It's not worth working for. In this way, small, idyllic and isolated vineyards are being lost that could be cultivated artisanally and organically and would produce excellent German organic wines. It is the cooperatives and wineries that are also under financial pressure and do not dare to charge appropriate prices for their wines. In this way, they force small winegrowers and part-time winemakers to give up.

We, at Biowein [pur], asked ourselves whether we could avoid transporting German organic wines on pallets from the winery to our warehouse? How would it be if we had German organic wines packaged directly by the wineries and sent to our customers via parcel service on our behalf? This would allow us to slightly reduce the CO2 and nitrogen oxide pollution in the environment. We have been switching to this process for some time with the following German organic wineries: Sander in Mettenheim, Abril vom Kaiserstuhl, Mohr in Lorch in the Rheingau and Zang in Franconia.

As is usual in Germany, the range of these wineries consists predominantly of white wine, with German