Saale-Unstrut is a region (''Anbaugebiet'') for quality wine in Germany,Wein.de (German Agricultural Society): Saale-Unstrut
, read on January 2, 2008 and takes its name from the rivers

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...

and Unstrut. The region is located on various hill slopes around these rivers. Most of the region's under vine in 2008German Wine Institute: German wine statistics 2009/2010
is situated in the federal state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

, with around in the state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

Geography and climate

Saale-Unstrut is the northernmost of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's wine regions, and is therefore one of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's northernmost traditional wine regions. The wines from the Memleben Abbey were mentioned in the literature already in the year 998 AD. Because of the cooler climate Spätlese or Auslese can be produced only in exceptionally warm years and yields are generally low. The region in the district

Burgenlandkreis Burgenlandkreis () is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established as Landkreis Burgenland by the merger of the former Burgenlandkreis and Landkreis Weißenfels as part of the reform of 2007. ...

has a wine route which was opened in 1993.

Grape varieties

The most common

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

varieties are the white varieties Müller-Thurgau, at and 18.4% of the vineyard surface in 2008 and Weißburgunder ( Pinot blanc) at 12.1%. White grape varieties make up 74% of Saale-Unstrut's plantations. Varieties such as Müller-Thurgau and Silvaner, which elsewhere are considered to produce wines of more mediocre quality, are sometimes considered to give better wines in the cold climate such as Saale-Unstrut's. The wines are labelled varietally, as most German wines, and are generally vinified dry with a refreshing acidity, resulting from the cool growing conditions. The most cultivated grape varieties, by area in 2008, were:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saale-Unstrut Wine regions of Germany Regions of Thuringia Burgenlandkreis Regions of Saxony-Anhalt