German Oechsle - Brix Conversion Table
Grape Maturity Measurement at Harvest
| Density |
Oechsle |
° Brix |
Potential Alcohol |
| 1.0698 |
69.8 |
17 |
9.7 |
| 1.0741 |
74.1 |
18 |
10.3 |
| 1.0785 |
78.5 |
19 |
10.8 |
| 1.0830 |
83.0 |
20 |
11.4 |
| 1.0874 |
87.4 |
21 |
12.0 |
| 1.0919 |
91.9 |
22 |
12.5 |
| 1.0965 |
96.5 |
23 |
13.1 |
| 1.1010 |
101.0 |
24 |
13.7 |
| 1.1056 |
105.6 |
25 |
14.3 |
| 1.1103 |
110.3 |
26 |
14.8 |
| 1.1149 |
114.9 |
27 |
15.4 |
| 1.1196 |
119.6 |
28 |
16.0 |
| 1.1244 |
124.4 |
29 |
16.5 |
| 1.1291 |
129.1 |
30 |
17.1 |
| 1.1339 |
133.9 |
31 |
17.7 |
| 1.1388 |
138.8 |
32 |
18.2 |
| 1.1436 |
143.6 |
33 |
18.8 |
| 1.1486 |
148.6 |
34 |
19.4 |
| 1.1535 |
153.5 |
35 |
20.0 |
| 1.1585 |
158.5 |
36 |
20.5 |
| 1.1635 |
163.5 |
37 |
21.1 |
| 1.1686 |
168.6 |
38 |
21.7 |
| 1.1736 |
173.6 |
39 |
22.2 |
| 1.1787 |
178.7 |
40 |
22.8 |
This entry was posted
on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 10:39 pm and is filed under Riesling Around the World.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Contribute factual content, a personal tale, data or – possibly (Heaven forfend) – a sincere correction. You’ll likely find your contribution in Riesling Rules Second Edition due to be published in winter 2008.
January 1st, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Why bother mentioning anything higher than 16%? When the alcohol gets to that level it will kill off the yeast…meaning no more alcohol will be produced. Mentioning “potential” above that level is meaningless.
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Dear Hector,
Thank you for your comment. It is trues that yeasts used in winemaking usually do not ferment beyond 16% alcohol (some would though, in Sake it is common to ferment to 20% alcohol with yeast). Potential alcohol is actually a unit commonly used, especially in Europe, at picking (which is why we use it in this contest). It is a winemaker term really with little meaning beyond harvest. Winemakers would often say “we ferment 10% and left 8% as sugar and they would refer to the potential alcohol as a measure of sugar (remember 16 grams of sugar = 1% potental alcohol). A geeky term granted.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:35 pm
It is a very useful chart and thank you for providing it. I needed to compare the must weights for Canadian icewines to those of German eisweins. Sure enough, Canadian rules require 5 to 9 degrees Brix more than the Germans to allow harvesting.
I see Hector’s point about “potential alcohol,” but it is still funny to think that Canadian icewine must has a potential of 20 degrees alcohol!
January 4th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Whao, did not realize there was such a difference between Germany and Canada. What is the legal limit for icewine in Canada? 35 Brix (from your 20% potential alcohol).
Thank you for the comment.
Nicolas
January 4th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
35 Brix is correct for Canada. In Germany, the limit varies between 110-128 Oechsle, depending on the region of production. This corresponds to roughly 26-30 Brix, a significantly lighter must weight. However, according to this press release, one German vintner recently measured a must weight of over 200 Oechsle, which is completely off the chart!: http://www.flyingwinewriter.com/2009Eisweingermany.php
January 4th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Good to know about the 35 Brix. I can believe the 45 Brix number from the German Winery. the yield must have been low. When we press our ice Wine (the real one, not the Vin De Glaciere), we start at 55 Brix of the press and go down from there. We get only a few gallons per ton of the uber sticky stuff.
January 19th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
“(remember 16 grams of sugar = 1% potental alcohol).”
Is this per liter?
January 19th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Yes, per liter.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:51 am
I have published today the following posting on my Schiller Wine Blog and have a question.
http://schiller-wine.blogspot.com/2010/01/german-wine-basics-sugar-in-grape.html
I have a little table about the link between sugar in the grape at harvest and the potential level of alcohol in the wine. The numbers come from http://www.wikipedia.de . What I noticed was that you also have a nice table about Oechsle, Brix and alcohol content, but your numbers for the potential alcohol content are lower than those found on http://www.wikipedia.de . Do you know why?
January 27th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Dear Christian,
I could not find the link on wikipedia.de you are referring to. My guess is that the difference comes from the convertion factor (sugar to ethanol) that I have used on the table. I have used 17.5g/L for one percent of alcohol but when I think about it, it sounds a bit high. I think I would use 16.5g/L sugar to make 1% of ethanol for the next edition. Would that reconcile some of the discrepency.
Nicolas