German Grosses Gewächs 2021 releases: the top wines

This is a yearly ritual which has survived all the pandemic’s lockdowns. During the last weekend in August, wine experts met again in the city of Wiesbaden at the invitation of the VDP. These three letters stand for Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter, an association which comprises around 200 of Germany’s best wineries.

The release tasting of the Grosse Gewächs (GG) offers the opportunity to get an impression of the new vintages from the top level, which consists of the best dry wines from the top classified sites.

This year showcased the 2019 vintage for red wines and mainly the 2020 vintage for the whites, presenting 430 wines out of a total of 612 GGs produced. They were poured in 78 flights of four to six wines, arranged by variety and origin.

Scroll down to see the top German Grosse Gewächs 2021 wines

To give an initial, brief overview of their performance: although 2020 was again a warm, very dry year, the third in a row, the whites demonstrate an appealing lightness and delicacy because the wines profited from a change in the weather in August, which brought cooler temperatures and some rain before harvest began in most German wine regions.

The 2019 reds reflect the density of a first-rate year combined with liveliness due to cooler conditions at harvest time.