Many people might still associate Germany with sweet Riesling and sweet Riesling only, but that’s officially an antiquated way of thinking. Yes, high-quality bottlings of off-dry and sweet wines are still very much around. But over the last decade, Germany’s newer, dryer offerings—especially amongst the country’s high-end Rieslings—have sparked a dry wine revolution. The credit for this goes primarily to the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP), an association of over 200 growers from all over Germany. Through collaborative work, the organization encouraged the production of dry wines and developed a classification system for recognizing the country’s best vineyards, similar to Burgundy’s quality pyramid. As a result, dry wines evocative of these top vineyards’ terroir have proved ascendant. The best of the bunch, in my opinion, is the Grosses Gewächs, or GGs. These are dry wines produced from grosse lage or grand cru vineyards. GGs must be made from grapes with a must weight (the amount of sugar in the grapes at harvest) that’s at least as high as that required for spätlese bottlings, which are semi-sweet to sweet wines made with grapes harvested later in the season. Essentially, this means that GGs are made with perfectly ripe grapes from arguably the best vineyard sites in the country. Simultaneously, the recent shift toward natural wine has also vastly contributed to dry wine production. Since leaving residual sugar in wines that are bottled unfiltered and without the addition of sulfites makes for a risky endeavor, all vintners who work in this style ferment their wines until there’s very little sugar left. For what it’s worth, a few of these producers are also VDP members, such as Schätzel and Odinstal. But for the most part, these makers work independently, outside of any grower association. These days, Germany’s dry-style natural wines and GGs are, I believe, the country’s most exciting bottlings. Although Riesling remains the king, reflected in both planting percentages and reputation, many other grapes are popping up, too. Eager to try some yourself? The following dry German wines are worth exploring. The Best New Dry German Wines