Ahr

Most wine here is light, fruity red, usually (over 40%) from Sp�tburgunder. It is traditionally made in a late-picked, medium-sweet style, but increasingly a few producers are presenting oak-aged examples in the Burgundy style. Most wine is vinified at local cooperative cellars and sold directly, especially to visitors.

Baden

This area is the longest geographically (it stretches 250 miles from the border with Franken in the north to Lake Constance (Bodensee) and Switzerland in the south). It is also the warmest and most southerly of German wine regions, and increased sunshine here lends wines a little more alcohol than in the rest of the country. Baden contains eight Bereich (wine districts). To the north of the area, Rieslings grown in granite soil are known for their charm, delicacy, and good acidity. Muller-Thurgau, Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris, also called Rulander), and Weissburgunder make honeyed dry whites. Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) also ripens well here, and can be made into either slightly sweet reds or well-colored, flavorful fine wines and aged in oak barrels. The village of Durbach specializes in rich Traminer from the steep vineyards overlooking the town. Muller-Thurgau and Gutedel (Chasselas) also make surprisingly interesting wines in Baden.

Franken

Hessische Bergstrasse

This is one of the smallest wine regions in Germany, with only 964 acres of vineyards. The main grape is Riesling, with over fifty percent of vineyard area; it resembles Rheingau in the better examples. Over half the wines are fermented dry, but the state of Hesse's 94 acre vineyard is well-respected for its Eiswein. About two-thirds of the 900 growers process their wines at a single cooperative cellar. Hessische Bergstrasse's elegant wine is rarely exported, and most is sold locally.

Mittelrhein

This is a small region with the quaint fairy tale castle atmosphere so typical of old Germany. Nearly all of the vineyards' steep slate-covered slopes (75%) are planted in Riesling, and most are within sight of the River Rhein. Mittelrhein vineyards are gradually shrinking under population pressure from both north and south, and the wine is not exported much; most is sold or drunk locally. The Mittelrhein makes concentrated Rieslings with fine acid structure, with at least one-quarter of the vintage fermented dry (trocken or halbtrocken). Muller-Thurgau from low yield vineyards here often has more character and concentration than in other areas.

Nahe

The Nahe is a diverse region producing many kinds of wines. It has a dry climate (as low as 20 inches per year of rainfall), with late summer rains typical before the harvest. Three-quarters of vineyard lands are planted on hillsides. Its finer products share qualities of both Mosel and Rheinhessen, with nearly a quarter fermented dry or medium-dry; they are slightly undervalued for their quality.

A growing percentage of vineyard area is devoted to Riesling, which became the main varietal by the mid-1990's and constitutes around one-fourth of the total vineyard area. The best einzellagen wines, many from private and estate-owned properties, have an ingratiating, open Riesling perfume tempered by fine acidity and slate. Cask aging in large old oak barrels (giving only the remotest oak flavor) is typical in this area.

Traditionally, the most planted Nahe grape has been M?Thurgau, though its percentage has decreased in the last couple of decades. The majority of M?Thurgau is sold in Bereich and Grosslage wines, with quite a bit going into the German sea of Liebfraumilch (it makes up 3% of the total volume), but in the Nahe it can also make a good single varietal wine. Silvaner has been used here for blending into supermarket type wines, but its acreage is also diminishing.

Two main cooperatives handle about half of the region's wines, one mainly for bulk wines and the other processing half the area's Riesling, all sold in bottle rather than bulk.

Pfaltz

This area, formerly called the Rheinpfalz, is known for the richness of its Riesling wines. Some are still made in the classic medium-sweet style, but those with sufficient body are being used for dry (trocken or halbtrocken) Rieslings, sometimes even with oak aging. A huge amount of bulk wine is also made here for Liebfraumilch. The Riesling hybrid Scheurebe develops very well in this area, and Pfalz versions of Traminer and the Burgundy varietals Weissburgunder, Grauburgunder and Spatburgunder are all worthy of attention, especially in the hands of a number of progressive younger winemakers.

Rheingau

The wines of the Rheingau have been administered by the Church and nobility for centuries, and the area still contains a number of large estates, mostly composite holdings in a number of villages. The famous ecclesiastical estates of Kloster Eberbach and Schloss Johannisberg are here, as well as the world famous Geisenheim viticultural research institute.

Soils here are extremely varied, with those containing blue slate highly valued for Riesling, the most common varietal (82% in 1990). The classic Rheingau style is rich and honeyed but crisp, with a hint of earthiness and a long finish. The climate is slightly less severe than Rheinhessen to the south, and is a natural magnet for abundant botrytis, allowing vintners to create the great late harvest Rieslings, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, and Eiswein. These very long-lived wines may last twenty years or more. There are also increasing plantings of Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir), and the area's attempts at dry, deeper colored reds in the modern style are much in demand. The high quality collective Charta, whose members grow only Riesling, requires rigorous wine tests surpassing government standards, and promotes dry wines exclusively.

Part-time growers own 25% of Rheingau vineyards, and many produce and sell wines themselves; the Rheingau's nine cooperative cellars are responsible for only about 15% of the harvest.

Rheinhessen

Saale-Unstrut

Formerly under the control of the East German government, Saale-Unstrut's 1,190 acres of terraced chalk-soil vineyards are recovering from years of neglect. The cold northern climate has frequent frost but a low annual rainfall around 17.5 inches per year. This and the rather dilapidated condition of the vineyards make for small yields and light alcohol but fairly good concentration. All the wines are completely dry, and can be quite well balanced. The varietals are Muller-Thurgau, Silvaner, Bacchus, Gutedel (Chasselas), and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc).

Despite its complexity, the German wine industry offers fascinating and varied wines -- many perfectly suited to contemporary cuisine, especially "difficult" foods that may defeat other varietals. With their delicate personalities, low alcohol and relatively high acidity, these charming, delicious wines add a unique pleasure to dining. Wine lovers owe it to themselves to get to know them.

Sachsen

Sachsen (Saxony) is the smallest and most northerly wine region in Germany, with a continental climate of cold winters and late frosts, but warm summers. The main grape varietiels are Muller-Thurgau, Riesling, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Traminer and Rulander (Pinot Gris). Virtually all Sachsen wines are fermented dry. About half of the wine (1,500 part-time growers on a total of 395 acres) is vinified at a single cooperative.

WüRTTEMBERG

Southern Germany's WüRTTEMBERG region includes the cities of Stuttgart and Heidelberg and continues to the vineyards of Baden (to the north) with over 24,000 acres of patchy vineyard sites loosely aligned with the River Neckar. Much of the region has a continental climate with severe winters. Its steep terraced slopes are attractive to both wine lovers and tourists for their scenic beauty. In some vineyards the gradient is over 30%, and irrigation is needed to reduce extreme stress on the vines. This allows an increase in potential alcohol of more than one percent.

WüRTTEMBERG has the highest per capita wine consumption in Germany, with an unusual enthusiasm for red varietals. More than half the wines are red, usually with very high yields: Trollinger, the largest red category, at up to 12.6 tons per acre and Sp?urgunder (Pinot Noir) as high as 7.5 tons per acre. M?ebe (Meunier, also called Schwarzriesling) and Lemberger are also grown. With such enormous production, most red wines are very low in concentration and tannins, with a smoky strawberry character popular locally (perhaps exclusively). In white varietals, about one-quarter of the region is planted with Riesling, and Kerner and M?Thurgau comprise around 9 percent each.