To use the term Grosses Gewächs, a VDP member must produce a dry wine from a VDP.Grosse Lage. VDP by Peter Bender
Grosses Gewächs of Germany Feature Week
The VDP.Grosses Gewächs® (GG) Vorpremiere occurs in Wiesbaden in the last week of August, ahead of the 1st September release date mandated for new vintage white GGs and red wine GGs from the vintage before that. Keep in mind that this is the northern hemisphere so grapes are (usually) still ripening on the vine in August, so we’re talking about the previous year.
What is the GG? It literally translates to ‘great growths’ or ‘grand cru’ and is a classification system for dry wines.
What is the GG? It literally translates to ‘great growths’ or ‘grand cru’ and is a classification system for dry wines which has been used since 2002 by the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP), which is the German association of ~200 premium wine estates. Although the VDP name itself dates to 1971, the association evolved out of the 1910 Verband Deutscher Naturweinversteigerer e. V. (VDNV) which at the time was a collective of ‘natural wine’ auctioneers. Now, remember that ‘natural wine’ in that time was used to refer to wines which were not chaptalised— different from the meaning of the term today. In essence, it was to protect high quality producers, and that is still what guides the organisation today.
To use the term Grosses Gewächs, a VDP member must
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
