The New VDP Classification - Part 2

Implementation and enforcement are questioned

Prof. Dr Dieter Hoffmann (Photo: Geisenheim University)

"Benevolently critical" is how Professor Dr Dieter Hoffmann from Geisenheim University comments on the new VDP classification. For him, the VDP is something like "the Rotary Club of successful wineries", which he says he experiences and appreciates as convincing in its qualitative achievements and appearances. He is ambivalent about the four-level quality system: "Small wineries that grow into the system can implement it relatively easily. Of the large, established wineries, some will be able to use it well, others will have difficulties." Accordingly, the new classification is only really suitable for a limited number of wineries. Hoffmann finds the system "intelligent but complicated" and currently still sees "more open questions than solved ones". The message launched by the association "We are saving German wine" goes too far for him: "The new classification will not have such a resounding effect. Some sommeliers will get excited, some wine merchants will have something to say, and that's all fine. But this system is not the salvation of German wine." In the professor's opinion, the VDP is already so successful economically and in its public image that it "does not need to put shackles on itself with such strict regulations". Hoffmann appreciates the association's commitment to wine quality, but advocates pursuing it "less dogmatically and without legal consequences". He recommends rather using freedoms and creative leeway to further advance the success of German top wines and thinks one should "deal loosely" with the new VDP classification.

The new four-level quality pyramid for the wines of VDP members (Source: VDP. Die Prädikatsweingüter)

At the VinoCamp Deutschland in Geisenheim at the end of June, there was a lively discussion about the sense, implementation and enforceability of the four quality levels, with participants looking at the classification from different angles (as producers, as merchants, as restaurateurs, as marketing and PR professionals, as journalists, as private wine lovers). The criticism mainly related to comprehensibility: "How is the consumer or even a wine consumer abroad supposed to understand this system?" asked wine consultant Beate E. Wimmer rhetorically. Wine journalist Helmut O. Knall said that it was not the customers who should have to learn a new system, but the producers and association officials who had to develop a quality system that the customers understood. Dirk Würtz, operations manager at the VDP winery Balthasar Ress, called the four-tier system a "great opportunity" from the producer's point of view, but admitted that the system was not designed from the consumer's point of view, but was "motivated by association policy". He was optimistic that the shortcomings, which undoubtedly still existed, would be solved soon and amicably.

Food for thought from the industry

From numerous conversations that the Wein-Plus editorial team has had with winegrowers, scientists, merchants and other players from the wine industry, it is possible to identify ambiguities in connection with the new VDP classification. The main points of criticism - as already indicated in some of the statements quoted above - are the classification of vineyards, the use of predicates, the comprehensibility and enforceability of the system, and sometimes even the legal admissibility of the new regulations.

There is much discussion about brands: Is the single vineyard suitable as a brand? Is the Burgundian hierarchy of "Grand Cru" and "Premier Cru" ("Großes Gewächs" and "Erstes Gewächs"), which the VDP follows, really the optimal approach, or is the new systemIs the Bordeaux system, which as a brand system is based on the principle of winery, first wine and second wine, really the optimal approach or is it not internationally more significant and also pragmatically more suitable? It is clear that a brand is one indicator of quality; another is, for example, price.

The so-called grape eagle is the trademark of VDP wines. (Photo: VDP / Bernward Bertram)

Several industry participants also find the so-called consumption of vineyards problematic: each VDP member winery can only produce one dry single vineyard from each "VDP Grossen Lage" and each "VDP Ersten Lage" that it has. The classification of a vineyard as "VDP Grosse Lage" or "VDP Erste Lage" is unambiguous, i.e. the same vineyard cannot have a different status with different producers. Critics in some regions see an intensive need for coordination here and also potential for conflict, because - so the accusation goes - there is no logic in the distinction between "VDP Erste Lage" and "VDP Grosser Lage". So is the classification more or less arbitrary, based on the consensus of the regional members?

And a third frequently mentioned doubt concerns the market relevance of the new system: Does the orientation towards the four levels do justice to the real demand situation, the "product reality"? Can the renunciation of the site designations for "VDP Ortsweine" and "VDP Gutsweine" be compensated by higher sales of more expensive single vineyards? Can enough dry top wines be sold at corresponding prices, while in the public and especially foreign perception the best German wines are residual or noble sweet? And how will sweet Prädikat wines be demanded, since according to the new regulations dry wines from "VDP Erste Lagen" and "VDP Grossen Lagen" are no longer allowed to carry Prädikat labels?

At the wine fair in Mainz, the VDP wines of the new vintage are presented every year at the end of April; the presentation of the new "VDP Grossen Gewächse" only takes place in autumn. (Photo: VDP / Bernward Bertram)

Over the next few weeks, the Wein-Plus editorial team will be dealing with these and other questions in dialogue with personalities both inside and outside the VDP. The answers will be presented in a rather loose sequence of further articles here in the Wein-Plus magazine - because the "VDP Grossen Gewächse" of the 2012 vintage, with which the new association classification comes into force, are just starting to be sold.

To Part 1 of the series of articles: "Pyramid, Prädikate, Politik".