Siegerrebe is a white wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

 that is grown primarily in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 with some plantings in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Washington State, and British Columbia's North Okanagan. Siegerrebe was created by German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 viticulturalist Dr. Georg Scheu (1879-1949) in 1929 at a grape-breeding institute in Alzey

Alzey

Alzey is a Verband-free town – one belonging to no Verbandsgemeinde – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fourth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, and Bingen....

 in Rheinhessen

Rheinhessen (wine region)

Rheinhessen is the largest of 13 German wine regions for quality wines with under cultivation in 2008. Named for the traditional region of Rhenish Hesse, it lies on the left bank of the River Rhine between Worms and Bingen in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate...

, by crossing Madeleine Angevine

Madeleine Angevine

Madeleine Angevine is a white wine grape from the Loire Valley in France that is also popular in the United Kingdom, Germany, Kyrgyzstan and Washington State.. The early-ripening grape is a cross between Madeleine Royale and Précoce de Malingre grapes and is a riesling-type that grows well in...

 and Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer is an aromatic wine grape variety that performs best in cooler climates. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz, and in French it is written '...

. However, Georg Scheu's son Heinz Scheu has claimed in a book that Siegerrebe was the result of self-pollination of Madeleine Angevine. Siegerrebe received varietal protection and was released for general cultivation in Germany in 1958.

In 2006, there were 110 hectares (271.8 acre) of Siegerrebe in Germany with a decreasing trend, in similarity with other "new breeds" of white varieties.

Viticultural characteristics

The vine is suited to colder climates as bud-burst is late and fruit ripening is very early however due to these traits bird depredation is serious and attack by wasps can be a problem. The vines are fruitful and vigor is low with grape bunches being large, red in colour and loosely packed. It has a susceptibility to chlorosis. Killing temperature of Siegerrebe is -14.4 °F.

Siegerrebe easily reaches high must weight

Must weight

Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice , and hence indicates the amount of alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar...

s and is noted as the record holder for highest must weight recorded in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. During the 1971 harvest in the Rheinpfalz, a parcel of Trockenbeerenauslese

Trockenbeerenauslese

Trockenbeerenauslese is a German language wine term for an intensely sweet dessert wine-style wine....

 Siegerrebe recorded 326 Oechsle, which is more than twice the minimum level of ripeness needed for a wine to qualify as Trockenbeerenauslese.

Siegerrebe wines

Despite high must weights the wine tends to be very low in acid. The finished wine has an intense aroma reminiscent of muscat

Muscat (grape and wine)

The Muscat variety of grapes of the species Vitis vinifera is widely grown for wine, raisins and table grapes. Their color ranges from white to near black. Muscat almost always has a pronounced sweet floral aroma. Muscat grapes are grown around the world...

 and tends to be used in blending than a varietal wine, however the flavour is reminiscent of Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer

Gewürztraminer is an aromatic wine grape variety that performs best in cooler climates. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz, and in French it is written '...

. Many Siegerrebe wines are high in extract and yellow-green to golden yellow in colour. Because Siegerebe ripens early, it is sometimes used for Federweisser early in the German harvest season.