🍷 Schillerwein

Schillerwein is a rosé from Württemberg in south-west Germany. It is a local kind of Rotling, a wine made from a mix of light and dark grapes. The key point is that grapes or must are mixed, not finished white and red wines.

The name comes from the German word schillern, to shimmer. The colour is lively, from light pink to pale red, as if it changes in the light. It is usually a light, fresh, inexpensive everyday wine. Local varieties such as Trollinger, Lemberger and Riesling often go into the mix.

Under German rules the name Schillerwein may only go on wines from Württemberg. Rotling, a wine from a mix of light and dark grapes, is made in other regions too, but it carries other names there: in Baden a similar wine is called Badisch Rotgold, in Saxony Schieler. So Schillerwein is not a blend of finished white and red, and not simply "German rosé" either: it is one local name within the wider family of Rotling wines.