Know your étiquette! Grosse Lage and VDP Grosses Gewächs

We continue to dig into German wine labels, and the previous video on the VDP is essential viewing before tackling this one. VDP Grosses Gewächs has been an increasingly important category coming out of Germany, as the country’s top wine-growers sharpen their focus on the link between provenance and quality. Often shortened to GG, these wines represent the finest dry wines coming from a VDP member’s grand-cru designated vineyards (singular: Grosse Lage in German).

This material is best suited by those who are studying wine or else those—with relatively deep pockets or wealthy friends!—whose yearning to know Germany's most sensual wines is a worthwhile pay-off for wading through some pretty dense material.

Our previous video explaining the VDP looks at the logic and intent of this group. There's often a bit of confusion about how these VDP designations (rules within a private organisation) intersect with the German wine laws that applies to all growers.

To confuse things more, in 2021 Germany introduced a new three-tier labelling system for single-site wines from classified vineyards. Where the VDP distinguishes between Erste Lage (premier cru) and Grosse Lage (grand cru) sites, and the GG is always dry, the 2021 wine laws employ similar terminology but are subtly different. The law changes relate to tiers within single-vineyard wines (rather than the perceived quality of the site itself), from Einzellage (single vineyard) to Erstes Gewächs and Grosses Gewächs, where the yields are smaller and sensory testing more stringent as you go up the ladder.

That’s a matter for another time; for now please don’t let anything get in between you and a strong desire to taste at VDP Grosses Gewächs wine—the ultimate dry single-site expression from a great grower and site.