Einzellage

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Einzellage, literally ‘individual site’ in the wine regions of germany. Almost all of Germany’s vineyards are officially registered as one of these approximately 2,600 Einzellagen, which can vary in size from a fraction of 1 ha to more than 200 ha/494 acres. The average size of an Einzellage is about 38 ha, about the same size as a typical bordeaux estate. As in burgundy, for example, the vines may be divided among many different owners, who are allowed to put the name of the Einzellage only on qualitätswein. Such names must usually be preceded by the name of the village in which they were produced; thus a wine from the Mandelring vineyard in the village of Haardt is called Haardter Mandelring.