The German Wine Scholar is the newest addition to the Wine Scholar Guild’s lineup of country-specific certifications. Together with the French Wine Scholar, Italian Wine Scholar and Spanish Wine Scholar, it is positioned as one of its advanced programs and requires extensive knowledge of Germany’s wine-related geography, history, laws and regulations, grape varieties, viticultural practices and production methods. For me, it is especially exciting given my German background and because the program reflects the growing recognition of the remarkable progress German wine has made in recent decades.

Admittedly, I was not always fond of German wine and initially did what I could to avoid it. The Rieslings I encountered were often too sour or austere; the Müller-Thurgau and Portugieser wines were drinkable but shallow and unexciting; and restaurants (at least in your average, small-town establishments) often favored halbtrockene or liebliche wines. These off-dry to semi-sweet styles were very popular and easy to drink but commonly lacked complexity and finesse. They also often clashed with the traditionally hearty German cuisine, such as Schnitzel or Braten.

When it came to sparkling wine, there was always a wide selection, but Sekt was generally reserved for special occasions, more out of convention than genuine enthusiasm. While Sekt was easy to find, most of it fell into the inexpensive, high-volume, tank method category and tasted sharply acidic, without enough body or complexity to provide balance and at times featuring a rather aggressive perlage. If people wanted to go for quality sparkling, they’d move to Crémant or Champagne, instead of Winzersekt.

That picture has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Producers have increasingly embraced dry, site-specific wines, more precise viticulture and ambitious sparkling-wine production, often with a much stronger emphasis on origin and terroir. Some estates are exploring the opportunities created by warmer growing conditions, even as producers elsewhere struggle with heat, drought and increasingly erratic weather. Others are experimenting with international grape varieties or fungus-resistant varieties known as PIWIs, while many growers and producer associations have adopted more exacting viticultural, production and classification standards. The result is a growing number of genuinely spectacular wines.

Since I am currently studying for the exam and there is still relatively little independent material available about the program, I thought a short write-up might be useful and perhaps help you decide whether this certification is worth pursuing.

Course content and structure

Broadly speaking, the course follows the same structure as the other Wine Scholar Guild programs. It begins with a Fundamentals chapter covering Germany’s history and geography, its principal grape varieties, viticultural practices, winemaking and, of course, German wine law. Once this foundation has been laid, the remaining chapters focus on Germany’s 13 recognised wine-growing regions:

• Mosel
• Ahr
• Mittelrhein
• Rheingau
• Rheinhessen
• Nahe
• Pfalz
• Baden
• Hessische Bergstraße
• Württemberg
• Franken
• Saale-Unstrut
• Sachsen

For each of these areas, you will learn about its viticultural history, location and climate, geology and soils, principal grape varieties, growing practices and winemaking traditions, followed by its subregions (Bereiche), villages and significant vineyards.

Germany is something of an oddity in this regard. Although German wine fits within the European protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI) framework, German wine law overlays that framework with a particularly intricate hierarchy of Anbaugebiete, Bereiche, Großlagen, villages, Einzellagen and, at the most granular level, registered parcels known as Gewanne.

German wine law rarely passes up an opportunity to introduce another geographical term, but there is an underlying logic: the more precisely defined the origin, the greater its potential significance. German labels also frequently combine the adjectival form of a village name with the name of an individual vineyard, as in Bernkasteler Doctor, which can be disorienting until the underlying structure becomes familiar. Matters are complicated further by the coexistence of statutory wine law and private classification systems such as that of the VDP.

Exam format

The exam can be taken through an approved course provider or online via remote proctoring. For online candidates, the Wine Scholar Guild uses Honorlock, allowing you to take the assessment from home without scheduling an appointment in advance.

After registering for the German Wine Scholar course, you have one year from the date of registration to access the online materials and take the exam. Your enrolment expiry date is displayed in the menu on the right-hand side of the online classroom.

Like the other Wine Scholar examinations, the test consists of 100 multiple-choice questions and must be completed within 60 minutes. Each question offers four possible answers, of which only one is correct. You need 75 points to pass. Candidates scoring between 85 and 90 receive Honors, while those scoring between 91 and 100 receive Highest Honors. Educators seeking accreditation to teach the program must achieve a score of at least 85.

Although I am still working through the material, my impression so far is very positive. Both the online portal and the e-book are well organised, and together they provide a comprehensive picture of Germany’s contemporary wine landscape.

Whether you love Riesling or simply fancy exploring lesser-known regional specialities such as Badisch Rotgold, Elbling or Trollinger, as well as distinctly German expressions of international grape varieties such as Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder), I can recommend giving the course a closer look.