No more German Table Wine!
On Thursday, July 2nd the German Federal parliament (aka the “Bundestag”) decided to abolish the term “table wine” (Tafel Wein).
In line with recent changes in European wine laws, it enforces the EU rules at a national level. The upper house (the Bundesrat) is expected to approve in what is considered a mere formality during the July 10th session.
The term “table wine” will disappear as at August 1st, 2009 in accordance with the ruling.
Subsequent descriptions will be: “without specific origin” (“ohne engere Herkunftsangabe”), “with protected statement of origin” (“mit geschützten Ursprungsbezeichnungen” or “g.U.” for short) and “with protected geographic statements” (“mit geschützten geografischen Angaben” or “g.g.A.”) on the label. Varietal and vintage labeling will be allowed in future even whithout stating any origin, something that was not the case for table wines.
