Wine rules: New quality pyramid for German wines
The 2026 vintage is considered promising due to the hot summer. And the winemakers have to adhere to new rules.
In Germany, a new wine quality pyramid will be mandatory from the 2026 vintage. The new system, decided in 2021, is based on the principle that the narrower the origin of the grapes, the higher the expected quality. The pyramid has four levels, with the highest being Lagenweine, which express the specific soil and microclimate characteristics of a single site. The terms "Großes Gewächs" and "Erstes Gewächs" will also be available to describe top wines, with criteria to be developed by the VDP and Deutscher Weinbauverband.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
