What is made here
Wine colours
Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.
Where it is
Sachsen in Germany
- Latitude
- 50.8°–51.9° N
- Vineyard altitude
- 109 m to 221 m
- Production zone
- 342,113 ha
Boundary drawn from whole communes, so it is a little larger than the legal zone. Boundary: Eurac Research PDO inventory (CC0). Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.
Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.
01 · What the law says
The rules
Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Sachsen must meet.
Other varieties allowed
Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.
57 varieties · Sachsen Sekt b.A., Winzersekt, Sachsen Qualitätsperlwein, Sachsen Qualitätslikörwein
Acolon, André, Auxerrois, Bacchus, Blauer Frühburgunder, Blauer Limberger, Blauer Portugieser, Blauer Trollinger, Blauer Zweigelt, Cabernet Carbon, Cabernet Cortis, Cabernet Dorio, Cabernet Dorsa, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Mitos, Chardonnay, Dakapo, Domina, Dornfelder, Dunkelfelder, Gelber Muskateller, Goldriesling, Grüner Silvaner, Grüner Veltliner, Helios, Hibernal, Huxelrebe, Johanniter, Kanzler, Kerner, Kernling, Merzling, Monarch, Morio Muskat, Muller Thurgau, Müllerrebe, Orion, Perle von Zala, Phoenix, Pinot Noir, Regent, Rieslaner, Riesling, Roter Elbling, Roter Muskateller, Roter Traminer, Ruländer, Saint Laurent, Saphira, Sauvignon Blanc, Scheurebe, Siegerrebe, Sirius, Solaris, Weißer Burgunder, Weißer Elbling, Weißer Gutedel
In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine
Allowed
Enrichment (chaptalisation)
02 · Climate fingerprint
The climate
The growing season averages 15.0 °C, intermediate on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,128 growing degree days (Winkler Ib).
The average year 1991–2020, vineyards at about 119 m
Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
- Growing-season temperature
- 15.0 °C
- Intermediate · 15–17 °C (Jones)
- Growing degree days
- 1,128
- Region Ib: 1,111–1,388 degree days
- Growing-season rain
- 496 mm
- Of 803 mm a year
- Harvest rain
- 123 mm
- September–October
Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 106 m; Vineyard point 2, 84 m; Vineyard point 3, 148 m; Vineyard point 4, 122 m; Vineyard point 5, 133 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.
Closest climates in the database
Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.
1. FrankenVery similarCompared with Sachsen: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. MittelrheinVery similarCompared with Sachsen: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. ChampagneVery similarCompared with Sachsen: same season warmth, similar rain.
Growing-season temperature
Growing degree days
Growing-season rain
03 · Year by year
35 vintages
Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.
Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 123 mm
2025
- Growing-season temp.
- Growing degree days
- Harvest rain
- Growing-season rain
- September nights
- Hot days and frosts
Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.
04 · Where the numbers come from
Sources
- A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
- OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
- Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
- Product specification: Sachsen (gU Sachsen_111214.pdf) · National authority, as filed in the EU register (eAmbrosia) · Official document
- Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
- Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
- From the specification: Lowest must weights are recorded (other white varieties and Portugieser/Dornfelder); Ruländer, Traminer, Weißburgunder and other red varieties need Qualitätswein 8.3 % (65 °Oe), Kabinett 10.3 % (78 °Oe), Spätlese 11.4 % (85 °Oe), Auslese 12.2 % (90 °Oe). The spec lists BA, TBA and Eiswein must weights only for white wines. Prädikatswein may not be enriched. Weißherbst must be a single-variety Qualitätswein from at least 95 % light-pressed must; Rotling may be called 'Schieler' only in Sachsen. Qualitätsperlwein base wine must meet Qualitätswein minimums; bottle-fermented Sekt must age at least 9 months on the bottle (tank and transfer methods also allowed). Varieties in approved trials may also be used for Qualitätswein. Enrichment: Qualitätswein up to 15 % vol total; not Prädikatswein.
- National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.