Beer is one German claim to fame, but its wine shouldn't be overlooked. Germany has more than 15,000 vineyards where grapes like riesling and pinot noir are grown. Reporter Hannah Hummel toured Germany's wine region to find out more. #dweuromaxx
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00:00 Oh, it's so beautiful here in France. I mean, Italy.
00:07 Hannah, you are in Germany.
00:10 What? Germany? That's right. Germany isn't just a country for beer, it's also a country
00:16 for wine. Germany has some of the best wine in the world. Let me prove it to you. Here's
00:23 everything you need to know about German wine.
00:26 Disclaimer, I used to think that German wine wasn't that great. Growing up in the UK, the
00:33 German wine I drank was pretty sweet and honestly low quality. But my German boyfriend is from
00:40 Germany's wine region and after trying the good stuff, I'm a full convert.
00:46 Riesling is the flagship wine of Germany. Both the climate and the soil are perfect
00:52 for it. In fact, Germany is rather more well known for its white wines than its red. And
00:57 it's the world leader in Riesling and Pinot Blanc cultivation.
01:04 Portugal drinks the most amount of wine per capita in the world, but Germany comes in
01:09 sixth place. Germans drink around 20 litres of wine per year, which is less than their
01:14 beer consumption. Fair enough.
01:18 Germany's wine regions stretch across its middle and south. The 13 distinct regions
01:23 boast over 15,000 vineyards.
01:27 The most important export countries for Germany are the US, Norway, the Netherlands, the UK,
01:38 Poland and China. They especially love the Riesling.
01:42 OK, now I want to find out how wine in Germany is actually drunk and what the regional differences
01:47 are.
01:50 As a Vintner in the Mosel region, Matthias Meyra can tell us all about that.
01:56 So I can show you. It's the easiest way just to pour it. That's the traditional
02:00 falsklaas for Schorle. And Schorle means you do like, you mix water with wine. But there's
02:08 a lot more wine. So there's say one hand wide wine. So you go like that and then you're
02:17 doing one hand wide. But the other direction, that would be one way refreshing, falsk region
02:24 drink for falsk wine festival. Then when you go a little bit apart from the winemaking
02:31 areas, you have the way of doing an apple cider. And that way it's a sparkling cider.
02:36 So usually it could be still, could be sparkling. Some people mix it, they put like Coke in
02:41 it. Number three would be just a regular wine. So you're taking a wine glass, pouring a sip
02:47 of water and then that would be the most sophisticated way of wine drinking, I would say.
02:53 All right, it's vocab time. Here are some words and phrases to make you sound like a
02:57 German wine expert. Weintrauben, the grapes that make the wine. Jahrgang, the period in
03:05 which the grapes are harvested. Edles Tröpfchen, this is a colloquial way of saying that the
03:11 wine is good, but it directly translates to noble droplets.
03:17 For everything else that you need to know about German wine, I'm meeting Ulrike Bohr,
03:21 who runs her winery according to family tradition.
03:25 This Wintner from the Mosel region knows very well what makes Germany's wine culture so
03:30 special.
03:31 In our regions, it's typical that we have small family businesses and all the wine like
03:38 cellars and wineries are located in the small towns and outside you only find the vineyards.
03:45 It's different. If you go to France, you have the chateau in the middle and the wine fields
03:49 around.
03:50 Personally, I always had the feeling growing up in the UK that Riesling was quite sweet,
03:55 but it's definitely not in Germany. So can you tell me why that is?
03:59 Oh, we love Riesling. From history, we produced more sweet wines in Germany because the German
04:08 people 30 years ago, they had the wine after their meal. They drink beer during the meal
04:14 and then they want to sit together and have a nice glass of wine. And then it's nice to
04:19 have a little bit sweeter. So the sweet wine, it's the most exported type of wine. But now
04:28 it changed. So now we have more of the dry and half dry Riesling.
04:34 Okay, I hope I've managed to convince you that German wine is seriously underrated.
04:42 Sure, German beer is great, but German wine needs more recognition. Some of the best wine
04:47 I've ever drunk has been right here in Germany. You need to try it and you also need to come
04:52 and visit the beautiful wine regions.
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