German wine the best vineyards in Germany are steep vineyards overlooking rivers, where mechanisation is impossible and a lot of manual labour is needed to produce the wine. Since it can be difficult to get ripe grapes in such a northernly location as Germany, the sugar maturity of grapes (must weight) as measured by the Oechsle scale have played a great role in Germany. German vintners on average crop their vineyards quite high, with yields averaging around 64-99 hl/ha, a high figure in international comparison. "New" crossings used for low-quality white wine commonly yield 150-200 hl/ha, while quality-conscious producers who strive to
Ripeness in viticulture weight from the juice of a single grape or they can use a hydrometer in the winery with the juice from several dozen or hundreds of grape berries. Different countries around the world use various scales to measure the must weight of grape juice. In the United States, New Zealand, and parts of Australia it is measured in degrees brix (symbol °Bx); in Germany (wine) it is degrees Oechsle (°Oe); in France and most of Europe the Baumé scale was used until 1961 and in Austria the Klosterneuburger Mostwaage (°KMW) scale is used. After "veraison" has begun, viticulturists will test