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Which wine is good?
Whether a wine is good or not is first of all a question of personal taste. If you are sensitive to acidity, you will not be happy with a dry wine, for example Rieslingwhich is naturally acidic, no matter how highly rated or how expensive it is.
An important indication of the quality of a wine are the assessments of wine critics, wine guides, trade magazines or wine competitions. (For details see questions "What wine awards are there?", "What rating systems are there for wine?", "What wine guides are there?" and "What wine magazines are there?")
Apart from that, the quality of a wine can also be narrowed down on the basis of the label. Basically, the lower the yield, the closer the geographical origin and the higher the quality of the terroir(climate, soil, topography as well as methods of vineyard cultivation and winemaking), the better the wine. These factors are reflected in the respective quality level or protected designation of origin that the wine bears on the label. ( For details, see the question "What factors influence wine quality?")
For the most important European wine-growing countries, the following indications suggest that the wine in question is of high quality:
- Germany: GG(Großes Gewächs, officially VDP.Grosses Gewächs)
- Austria: DAC (Districtus Austriae Controllatus)
- France: AOC/AOP (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée/Protégée = controlled/protected designation of origin)
- Italy: DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita = controlled and guaranteed designation of origin) or DOC/DOP (Denominazione di Origine Controllata/Protetta = controlled/protected designation of origin)
- Spain: DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada = qualified designation of origin) or DO/DOP(Denominación de Origen Protegida = protected designation of origin)
In addition, organically or biodynamically produced wines are in many cases better than conventionally produced wines. The seal of an organic association(Demeter, Ecovin, Bioland, Naturland etc.) or at least the EU organic seal on the bottle provides information on this.