German Wine Labeling
German wine labels state the quality level of the wine, the grape, the vineyard, and a style or taste indication.
(1) Producer or bottler
Name of bottler, producer or estate, in this case the bottler is Schmitt-Söhne. If the label indicates "Erzeugerabfüllung" (estate bottled), it assures you that the grapes were grown and the wine was produced by one and the same grower or cooperative of growers (Winzergenossenschaft).
(2) Quality Level
The quality level of the wine.
(3) Appellation of origin
The winegrowing region.
(4) Village and vineyard
Here you find the village where the vineyard is located, followed by another name indicating the vineyard site.
(5) AP number
The "Amtliche Prüfnummer", meaning "official approval number", identifies the wine and is required for all QbA and QmP wines. It consists of several blocks of numbers, such as: "3 907 027 286 11".
- "3" indicates the testing center, where the wine was approved
- "907" indicates the village in which the producer is located
- "027" is the code number for the winery
- "286 11" denotes the sequential order in which the wine was submitted for testing and the year in which it was tested - in this case, it was the 286th wine tested in 2011
