At Eberbach Abbey in Rheingau, Germany, the Cistercian monks used to keep the best wines they made in special cabinets that they would open only when guests of honor came, so they called them “Kabinett Wein “Kabinett Wein” – the small room wine. The term “Kabinett Wein” first appeared in books in 1712, and today, although the definition of this wine made from German Riesling is very clear, many people are unaware of the mystery. However, as a symbol of high quality wine, the small house wine still has a high status in the hearts of Germans.
The reason why people don’t fully understand small house wines is that the German wine hierarchy is too complex. This system is based on the density of the grape juice, which is commonly referred to as Oechele. When the grapes are more ripe, their sugar content is higher, and the Oechele value is greater. German wines are divided into five classes according to the level of Oeschle (i.e., the density of the must), with small house wines having the lowest Oeschle (i.e., their grapes are the least ripe and have the lowest sugar content), followed by selections (Auslese), late picking (Spatlese), grape-by-grape (BA), and blight-by-grape (TBA). Each grade has a strict Oeschle range value, such as a minimum Oeschle value of between 73 and 78 degrees for small house wines. You are likely to think that since all these grape juices have such high sugar content, the wines they make should all taste sweet, right? The first thing you need to know is that the wine is not as sweet as it should be. The German wine classification is based on the sugar content of the grape juice, not the residual sugar content of the wine. Only wines with a high residual sugar content will give the taster a sweet taste.A German wine professional said, “Under the action of yeast, sugar breaks down into alcohol and carbon dioxide and gives off heat, so we can roughly estimate the residual sugar content of a wine based on the alcohol content labeled on the wine.” For example, a small room wine with 10% ABV has about 35 g/l of residual sugar.
However, the Oeschle value is a minimum standard for grape juice density and there is no upper limit set at all, so winemakers can make a small house wine from grapes with higher sugar content, which of course will have higher residual sugar and alcohol, though it may also be a dry wine.
This therefore results in people, especially foreigners, not knowing much about German wines. For those who don’t know wine or don’t speak German, such a hierarchy is not at all instructive. However, the Germans don’t think so, because they make very little wine for export and 80% of it is consumed by wine lovers at home. Peter Karsten, winemaker at Gut Hermannsberg, believes that a clear understanding of cuvée is not just a matter of cold technical data, but should be understood logically, preferably as a style of wine made from grapes that are neither over-ripe nor It is better to think of it as a style of wine made from grapes that are neither overly ripe nor overly green, with a low alcohol content but high wine quality. In short, regardless of the Oeschler value or the sugar content of the grapes, Riesling Petit Verdot is a specific style of wine, not a series of technical data. It is a wine that is both semi-dry, semi-sweet and of course dry, a wine that is crisp and lively on the palate, fruity and balanced in structure, and will give a spring-like, tiger-like aesthetic when drunk.Warm reminder: Keep an eye on the LuFuture.com app for the latest market updates.
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