Trying to
understand the classification of wines is necessary in order to choose the wine prior to tasting it. On each label of wine from the
Czech Republic, you can find three important specifications:
1.
Quality attributes
In the
Czech Republic, we use similar system as in Germany and Austria, the so-called
Germanic system for classifying wines based to the minimum sugar content
present in the grape juice by harvest. The sugar content in juice is
denominated in ˚ČNM (Český Normalizovaný Moštoměr = Czech Normalised
Must-Weight).
One degree of ČNM stands for 1 kg of sugar in 100 litres of juice.
TABLE
WINE – min. 11˚ČNM. The origin of grapes is in EU.
LAND WINE
– min. 14˚ČNM. The wine is produced from grapes with origin in the Czech
Republic – it can be categorized as wine with protected geographical
denomination (PGI).
QUALITY
WINE – min. 15˚ČNM. The grapes must be from vineyards in a single wine region and
also the wine must be produced in the same region where the grapes were
harvested. The grape variety must be listed in the State Register of Grape
Varieties. It can be categorized as wine with Protected Designation of Origin
(PDO). The quality wine can be both varietal wine (it has to contain at least
85% of the variety marked on the label) or can be used for blends.
QUALITY
WINE WITH SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES (PRÄDIKATSWEIN) – the highest quality wines. The
grapes must fulfill all the requirements for the quality wine. Furthermore, the
grapes must come from one single subregion and the wine is verified by the
State Agricultural and Food Inspectorate. Chaptalization is not permitted.
1)Kabinet wine
Must-weight minimum is 19°ČNM. These wines are lighter, dry, pleasantly
drinkable.
2)Late harvest/Spätlese
Must-weight level has reached
minimum of 21°ČNM. These wines are full, extractive, mostly dry or semi-dry.
3)Special selection of
grapes/Auslese
Wines from grapes ripened to minimum
of 24°ČNM. These wines are full, extractive, with a higher alcohol content or with a higher content of residual sugar.
4)Special selection of berries/Beerenauslese
Wines produced from grapes that
ripened a long period on the vine, the must-weight level has achieved at least
27°ČNM. These are very round, extractive, semi-sweet or sweet wines.
5)Ice wine/Eiswein
Ice wine is made from grapes frozen
on the vine, harvested at least at temperature of -7°C. Must-weight must
achieve minimum of 27°ČNM. Grapes must not defrost during the pressing, so the
water remains unpressed in the grapes in form of ice and during the
pressing the juice becomes highly concentrated. Ice wines are very extractive
and sweet.
6) Straw
wine/Strohwein
Grapes for the straw wine are dried
for at least 3 months on straw or reed mats or suspended on racks. The
resulting must-weight has to reach at least 27°ČNM. Pressing of grapes may be
precipitated after two months if the must weight level has reached 32°ČNM.
Straw wines are highly extractive and sweet.
7) Special selection of botrytised
berries/Trockenbeerenauslese
The wines are produced from
selected berries that have been attacked by noble rot and the minimum must
weight is 32 °ČNM. Thanks to the extremely long ripening the majority of
the berries turn into raisins. They provide very extractive and sweet wines.
2.
Origin specification
The quality wine is also classified according to the region where the grapes were grown. The origin specification is divided as
follows: Wine Region (Moravia or Bohemia) – Wine Subregion – Wine Village –
Vineyard. To get more information about the subregions and villages, see the
previous article on our blog:
3.
Categorization based
on the residual sugar content
A wine is fermented to different
level of residual sugar – based on its content, the wine is categorized into
four groups in the Czech Republic.
DRY –
max. 4 g/l of residual sugar or max. 9 g/l of residual sugar when the
difference of residual sugar and total acidity content converted to tartaric
acid is less than 2 grams
SEMI-DRY –
max. 12 g/l of residual sugar or max. 18 g/l of residual sugar when the
difference of residual sugar and total
acidity content converted to tartaric acid is less than 10 grams
SEMI-SWEET
– max. 45 g/l of residual sugar
SWEET –
more than 45 g/l of residual sugar
The new trend is creating of appellations (VOC = Wine of Original
Certification) based on the French model - the first one was created in 2009 in
Znojmo subregion. The appellation system stands for a range of restrictions
regarding the origin of grapes from registered vineyards, specific varieties,
yield, alcohol and residual sugar, the grapes must be hand-picked and
style of the wine must by typical for the area - mostly maturing in oak barrels
is forbidden. However, this classification is not much widespread and local
customers are much more familiar with the Prädikat categories. Maybe in future
it will gain more importance and awareness, thus the quality of the production
will grow again.
 |
| Front label with all used classifications |
In our assortment you can find only the highest quality wine
from the Czech Republic - all the wines are with special attributes
(Prädikatswein): http://www.winehills.eu/
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