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The President of the German Winegrowers' Association e.V. (DWV), Klaus Schneider, explained his concept for the creation of a new origin-oriented quality system at the 72nd Palatinate Winegrowers' Day in Neustadt/Weinstraße.
The system proposed by the DWV is based on two core statements, explained Schneider. Origin must be a promise of quality in the future: "The smaller the stated category of origin, the greater the promised quality must be. In future, the growing region must continue to stand for a certain quality, whereas the single vineyard must necessarily stand for a higher quality," Schneider explained. This is the only way to give the consumer "a better overview in the designation jungle".
In his presentation, Schneider emphasised that origin as a promise of quality has long been anchored in the wine laws of the major wine-growing countries France, Italy and Spain. "Austria and Hungary have followed suit, so Germany must not lose out here," the association president warned.
In recent months, he said, attempts had been made to reach an understanding in the industry on what significance should be given to the categories "wines with protected geographical indications" - the former Land wines - and "German wine" in addition to the protected designations of origin, i.e. the former quality wines and Prädikat wines. These talks would be continued.
The winegrowers' president was pleased that the winegrowers in the so-called protective associations were already exercising the self-responsibility for their wine-growing regions that had been assigned to them by the legislator. "In the future, they will also be responsible for the profiling of the areas, because they are currently already discussing the possibilities for the future design of their areas on the basis of an origin-oriented pyramid," Schneider reported. He is eagerly awaiting the first working draft on the reform of the designation law.
(uka / Photo: German Wine Institute)