Grosslage; pl. Grosslagen

[GROSS-lah-guh; GROSS-lah-gehn] A German term meaning "large vineyard," referring to a collection of individual vineyards (einzellagen) with similar environmental attributes that produce wines of comparable character and quality. There are about 2,600 Einzellagen and 150 Grosslagen, which are further combined into thirty-four bereiche (districts) and thirteen anbaugebiete (growing regions). Sizes of Grosslagen vary tremendously-from 125 to over 5,000 acres-and contain any number of Einzellagen. The name of an Einselage on a label generally indicates a wine of higher quality than one with the name of a Grosslage. Unfortunately, labels don't indicate whether a name is an Einzellage or a Grosslage, making it difficult to use this information effectively. Moves by various groups to discard the use of Grosslagen have been partially successful. Beginning in September 1994, the German wine law allowed the production of Qualitätswein garantierten Ursprungs (QgU) or a "quality wine of guaranteed origin." A QgU comes from an Ursprungslage, which is a specific district, vineyard, or village with a consistent style associated with its site of origin. QgU wines are required to undergo more stringent sensory and analytical evaluations.