As a wine country, Germany produces, truly, some of the world's most elegant and aromatically pure white wines. Among enthusiasts, Germany's reputation is primarily based on wines made from the Riesling grape variety, which at its best is used for aromatic, fruity and elegant white wines that range from very crisp and bone dry to well-balanced, sweet wines, with an enormous aromatic concentration.
Germany's has many, many fine wine-makers. In the case on the growers in the Mosel, they have stuck to their guns to grow the Riesling grape on difficult, steeply sloping sites, producing wines that are unquestionably the best examples of their type in the world.
Traditionally, the white wines of Germany are its glory. There are a wide variety of grapes planted, many of them hybrids and Riesling crosses, such as like Müller-Thurgau, Ortega and Rieslaner. However, ancient grape varieties, such as Silvaner produces in areas such as Franken, produce some of the most extraordinary wines in the world, but varieties such as white burgundy and Pinot Grigio from that area produce exceedingly dry wines of outstanding quality.