German Agricultural Society

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The German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft), commonly known as DLG, is an organisation for agricultural industry in Germany. DLG was founded in the year 1885 by Max Eyth, has over 17,000 members as of 2007 and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. Its main purpose is to promote technical progess and scientific advances in the food and agricultural industry, including setting standards.^[1]

The main activities of DLG are:^[1]

Arrangement of seminars and other educational activities for its members
Advise to members
Publication of books and magazines related to the the food and agriculture industry
Testing of food and beverage products, including wine, which may qualify for a "DLG Award" which can then be displayed on the product.
Testing of agricultural machinery
Participation in international trade fairs

[edit] Wine activities and awards

In the area of German wine, DLG has been responsible for devising the assessment scale used for official classification as well the medals and awards that are handed out regionally and nationally. This is a five-point scale where the wines are assessed blind (i.e., the tasters don't know the identity of the wine in the glass) by a panel and given points in the three categories bouquet ("nose"), taste and harmony. The category "harmony" refers to all sensory impressions, including colour, and is concerned with the overall balance between sweetness, acidity, alcohol and "body"/mouthfeel of the wine. Each category is assessed on the scale 0-5 (fractional points may be awarded), and the points given are then averaged, with the same weight given to the three categories. For a wine to be given its quality control test number (A.P. Number for Amtliche Prüfung) necessary to display a Prädikat designation of the German wine classification, a minimum of 1.5 out of 5 is necessary in all three categories, otherwise the wine is denied a classification.^[2]

Several different awards are also handed out by the DLG:

Individual wines may qualify for the Deutsches Weinsiegel (German Wine Seal), which requires an average of 2.5 of 5 points instead of the 1.5/5 necessary to receive a classification. The German Wine Seal is colour-coded for the sweetness of the wine: yellow for dry wines (trocken), lime green for off-dry (halbtrocken) and red for semi-sweet to sweet wines.^[2] Far from all wines that would qualify for a German Wine Seal actually display it on the bottle, and few if any top producers use it.
Wines may also qualify for the more newly created Deutsches Güteband Wein (German Ribbon of Quality for Wine), in which case they need to qualify both in a sensory evaluation and for example with respect to being produced in an environmentally friendly way.^[3]
As a supplement to the wine awards/medals handed out on the regional or federal state level, DLG arranges the annual Bundes-Weinprämierung der DLG on the national level, where wines may qualify for gold, silver or bronze.
Wineries may also receive an award, based on an assessment of production, marketing and overall quality concept, called DLG Empfohlenes Weingut (DLG-recommended wine estate) for individual wineries and DLG Empfohlene Winzergenossenschaft (DLG-recommended winegrowers' cooperative) for cooperatives. Started in 1999, as of 2007, 44 wineries had received the award.^[4]