A wine quality term used in many countries around the world to declare higher quality wines with special requirements, such as a higher alcohol content or longer ageing period, compared to standard quality. However, the terms sometimes have different meanings in the individual countries with very different specifications.
Riserva is clearly regulated by wine law in Italy and Reserva in Spain and Portugal. Réserve" in France has no legal meaning in wine law. In the English-speaking world, the term is often used in combination with other terms. These are, for example, Estate Reserve, Private Reserve, Reserve Selection, Proprietor's Reserve and Vintner's Reserve.
The quality designation Reserve may only be used for a quality wine with a vintage (this is not permitted for Prädikat wine types ). The alcohol content must be at least 13% vol. The wine must have been produced from recommended grape varieties with the best recognisable characteristics in terms of varietal character and origin. In the case of white wine, the submission for obtaining the state inspection number may not take place before 15 March, in the case of red wine not before 1 November of the year following the harvest. These provisions also apply to the two quality designations premium and Selection.
The designations Große Reserve or Grande Reserve are permitted for longer maturation. The application to obtain the national verification number may not be submitted before 1 November of the year following the harvest for white wine and before 1 May of the second year following the harvest for red wine. This also applies to the designation Grande Selection.
With the 2015 vintage, a three-tier quality pyramid for quality sparkling wine was introduced in accordance with Austrian wine law (see there in detail) with the three levels Klassik, Reserve and Große Reserve.
Here, the designation "Reserve" was banned for a long time in order to avoid the risk of confusion with products from Austria (Reserve) or France (Réserve) and thus misleading the consumer. However, in a judgement published in 2008, the Rhineland-Palatinate Higher Administrative Court ruled in favour of a Palatinate winegrower.
German wines may now also be labelled as Réserve, Grande Réserve or Privat-Reserve, provided they are of a particular quality. The winegrower was thus victorious after a lengthy legal dispute that took him all the way to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. However, there is no clear definition of "special quality". Sceptics believe that the term will not be widely used because there is a lack of history and background in Germany. In addition, Classic and Selection are two relatively recently introduced terms for superior quality.
Further information
For the production of alcoholic beverages, see Champagne (sparkling wines), Distillation (distillates), Speciality wines, Spirits (types), Winemaking (wines and wine types) and Wine law (wine law issues).
