“Erstes Gewächs” and “Großes Gewächs” receive a reliable legal framework
The Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) welcomes the Bundesrat’s approval of the 13th Ordinance Amending Wine Law Provisions, including the adopted amendments. With the revision of the Wine Ordinance, the designations “Erstes Gewächs” and “Großes Gewächs” will in the future be awarded by the Komitee – Klassifikation Erster und Großer Lagen in Deutschland e. V., a committee jointly established by the German Winegrowers’ Association and the VDP.
From the VDP’s perspective, the decision is an important step toward further strengthening the quality-based profile of Germany’s top wines. For many years, the terms “Erstes Gewächs” and “Großes Gewächs” have stood for an understanding of origin that places the special vineyard site, its delineation, and the wines that emerge from it – together with their reputation – at the center. The VDP has developed and applied these designations in Germany for more than 30 years and has linked them to specific requirements. Their anchoring in the Wine Ordinance under new institutional responsibility now creates a sound basis for their future use and provides important, consistent guidance for consumers.
“This decision is a significant step for German viticulture,” says Steffen Christmann, President of the VDP. "It now offers a great opportunity to elevate our association’s system — which has been developed over more than thirty years — to a new, state-supported level. This safeguards the value we have built up and opens the door to further development with the participation of all producers in Germany who are seriously committed to the concept of great wines of origin. At first, establishing an official German Grand Cru seemed like a distant, almost unattainable goal. Now we have come significantly closer to that goal."
The new regulation provides that the requirements for awarding the designations must be objective and non-discriminatory. At the same time, regional characteristics are to be taken into account, including the delineation of vineyard sites, regionally typical grape varieties, and production criteria as a whole. The committee’s rules of procedure and review regulations require the approval of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Homeland; the federal states will be involved beforehand.
“For us, this is a moment of recognition, but above all it is a mandate,” says Theresa Olkus, Managing Director of the VDP. “The VDP has worked meticulously on these terms for many years. Now the task is to give them substance through a transparent, fair, and professionally robust process. The legal foundation is in place. What begins now is the development of a credible, generally applicable classification of vineyard sites. Erste and Große Gewächse must form the top tier of a system that develops from the regions outward and is based on transparent criteria. This requires time, resilient structures, and respect for the technical groundwork that has been carried out over decades.”
The VDP also sees the decision as confirmation of the origin-based quality model that has gained considerable importance in Germany in recent years and has been more clearly outlined at the European level since the EU wine market reform. Internationally, this focus on origin and vineyard site has long been established practice in many leading wine regions. With their legal anchoring, “Erstes Gewächs” and “Großes Gewächs” will be more strongly protected and placed within a nationwide framework. This creates the basis for giving Germany’s best origins a clearer profile regionally, nationally, and internationally.
The association thanks the ministries involved, the German Winegrowers’ Association, and all stakeholders who worked toward a viable solution in this process. From the VDP’s perspective, the priority now is to implement the next steps carefully, transparently, and in close dialogue with the regions.
If you have any questions, please contact:
VDP.Die Prädikatsweingüter
Max Rohde
m.rohde@vdp.de
+49 (0) 6131 945 65 14
