🏷️ Grosses Gewächs
A dry wine from a Grosse Lage site, marked GG on the bottle.
Grosses Gewächs, or GG, is the top category of dry wines in the classification of the German association VDP. The name means "great growth". It is applied to dry wine from the best vineyard, marked as Grosse Lage, "great site".
The rules are strict. Yields are limited, berries are picked by hand, and the grapes must be ripe. The wine must be dry, trocken. Such wines may not be sold at once: whites are released no earlier than 1 September after the harvest, reds no earlier than two years later. The bottle carries the letters "GG".
The main grape for white GG is Riesling, but there are also Grauburgunder and Weissburgunder, and for reds Spätburgunder, that is Pinot Noir. The wines are concentrated, deep and keep long.
GG stands next to other levels of the VDP classification: Erstes Gewächs (first growth), Ortswein and Gutswein. In the Rheingau the name "Erstes Gewächs" used to be applied. The system belongs to German wine.
How it connects to Wine
🏷️ Grosses Gewächs → → → 🍇 Riesling → kind of → 🍇 Grape varieties → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Part of
- 🏷️ VDP Grosse Lage
- Where it applies
- 🗺️ German wine
- Related to
- 🍇 Riesling
- Similar and different
- 🏷️ VDP classification, 🏷️ VDP Grosse Lage, 🍷 Trocken, 🏷️ Erstes Gewächs
Frequently asked questions
What is Grosses Gewächs?
The top category of dry VDP wines in Germany, from the best sites (Grosse Lage), marked GG.
When is GG released?
Whites no earlier than 1 September after the harvest, reds no earlier than two years later.
What grapes make GG?
Most often Riesling, and also Burgundy varieties; reds are made from Spätburgunder.
Similar
🏷️ VDP classification · 🏷️ VDP Grosse Lage · 🏷️ Erstes Gewächs · 🏷️ Kabinett · 🏷️ Qualitätswein · 🏷️ Classic and Selection
⚠️ Wine contains alcohol: adults only, drink in moderation. Wine usually contains sulphites; egg white or milk proteins are sometimes used for fining — important for allergies and for vegans.