German food guide: what PDO and PGI names protect, from Lebkuchen to Kölsch

The short answer

A place name on German food or drink may be an EU-protected name. The EU register lists 12 German food and drink names as protected designations of origin (PDO) and 86 as protected geographical indications (PGI); another 36 German spirit drinks are registered as geographical indications (GI).[2]

The difference between the two food labels is how much has to happen in the named place. The European Commission says a PDO requires every part of production, processing and preparation to take place in the region, while for a PGI, for most products, at least one stage must. The Commission's own example of the looser label is German: Westfälischer Knochenschinken PGI, ham produced in Westphalia from meat that does not come exclusively from animals born and reared there.[1]

Germany's list leans heavily to PGIs. Nine of its 12 PDOs are cheeses or meat, such as Allgäuer Emmentaler and Lüneburger Heidschnucke, while the city-named products in this guide, Nürnberger, Dresdner, Münchener, are all PGIs. Only 29 of the 98 registered German food and drink names have a summary file in the register's listing; XTOUR read the files cited below and says so where a name has none.[2]

Christmas biscuits, stollen and mulled wine

Nürnberger Lebkuchen was registered as a PGI with an EU protection date of 2 July 1996.[2] Its application summary limits it to products made inside the administrative boundaries of the city of Nürnberg, and defines it by proportion: at least 50 parts of sugars, honey, spices, oilseeds and similar ingredients to every 100 parts of cereal products. The summary cites the Lebkuchen bakers' own guild, formed in 1643, as part of the link to the city.[3]

Aachener Printen, protected since 1997, are a different gingerbread.[2] The register's summary describes brown biscuits, hard and crunchy or soft and moist, recognisable by crumbs of undissolved brown sugar candy, with at least 80 kilograms of sugar to every 100 kilograms of flour. The area is wider than the city: Aachen and the town of Würselen, with Alsdorf, Baesweiler, Stolberg, Eschweiler, Roetgen and other localities listed.[4]

Dresdner Christstollen is registered under three names, Dresdner Christstollen, Dresdner Stollen and Dresdner Weihnachtsstollen, with an EU protection date of 17 June 2008 and a registering regulation published in November 2010.[2] The register holds no summary file for it, and XTOUR could not open the Official Journal texts on EUR-Lex, so XTOUR does not describe its recipe or area.

Two mulled wines are on the register as well, Nürnberger Glühwein and Thüringer Glühwein, both as PGIs in the food list rather than as wines.[2] So is Bremer Klaben, and Lübecker Marzipan, whose summary sets the city of Lübeck and parts of Stockelsdorf and Bad Schwartau as the area and fixes two recipes: Lübeck Marzipan at 70% marzipan base mass to 30% sugar, Lübeck Edelmarzipan at 90% to 10%.[5][2] Lebkuchen and Stollen at the markets themselves are covered in Germany's Christmas markets in Nuremberg, Dresden and Cologne.

Sausages and ham

Nürnberger Bratwürste, also registered as Nürnberger Rostbratwürste, have been protected since 2002, and the register lists later Official Journal publications from 2013 and 2017.[2] Thüringer Rostbratwurst was protected the same year. The register holds no summary file for either, so XTOUR does not describe how either is made.[2]

Schwarzwälder Schinken (Black Forest ham) has one. Its German-language application summary describes a boneless, raw, cold-smoked ham: salted and heavily spiced by hand, cured for some weeks, dried for a good two weeks, then smoked for two to three weeks over fir wood in masonry chimneys at 20 to 25 °C, and matured for about three weeks more; the area given is simply "Schwarzwald".[6] The register lists later Official Journal publications from 2012 and 2013 that XTOUR has not read.[2]

Beer: city, state and style

Beer shows how much a name's area can vary. Each of these is a PGI.

• Münchener Bier is tied to the territory of the city of Munich, and its 2006 summary links it to water drawn from the breweries' own deep wells in the city. The same summary allows the label "Münchner Bier" as well, and lists the types the name covers, from Helles and Export to Hefeweizen, Märzen, Bockbier and an Oktoberfestbier.[9]
• Bayerisches Bier covers the whole Free State of Bavaria, with types from Schankbier, Hell and Pils to Märzen/Festbier, Bock and Doppelbock, each given ranges for original wort, alcohol, colour and bitterness.[10]
• Kölsch is a light, top-fermented beer whose area is the city of Cologne and eight towns around it: Bedburg, Bonn, Brühl, Dormagen, Frechen, Leverkusen, Monheim and Wiehl. On that summary, the area takes in Bonn and Leverkusen as well as Cologne; the register lists later Official Journal publications from 2008 and 2009 that XTOUR has not read.[2][11]

Oktoberfestbier is also a PGI of its own. The register gives it an EU protection date of 23 August 2012 and a registering act published in October 2022.[2] XTOUR has not read its file, so it cannot say how the separate Oktoberfestbier name relates to the Oktoberfestbier type in the 2006 Münchener Bier summary. The register also protects Dortmunder, Bremer, Kulmbacher, Hofer, Reuther and Mainfranken Bier, and the hops of the Hallertau, Tettnang and Spalt.[2]

The table restates the files cited in the sections above. Several of those files are 1990s summaries with later Official Journal publications listed in the register, which XTOUR has not read.[2]

Cheese and gherkins

Allgäuer Emmentaler is a PDO, so under the Commission's definition every stage must happen in the area. Its summary sets that area as six districts, Lindau (Bodensee), Oberallgäu, Ostallgäu, Unterallgäu, Ravensburg and the Bodenseekreis, plus the towns of Kaufbeuren, Kempten and Memmingen. It must be made from raw milk produced in the area and ripened for three months, at least four weeks of them at 20 °C or more; the summary credits Swiss herdsmen with bringing the skill around 1821.[7]

Spreewälder Gurken, Spreewald gherkins, are a PGI. The summary requires the processed product to be over 70% gherkins grown in the Spreewald economic region, processed only in establishments in that region, with onions, dill, herbs or horseradish for flavour.[8] The register lists a later Official Journal publication from 2025 that XTOUR has not read.[2]

Spirits

German spirit GIs include fruit brandies such as Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser, caraway spirits (Kümmel) named after Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, and Steinhäger. Some are shared across borders: Korn, or Kornbrand, is registered for Germany, Austria and Belgium together.[2] The European Commission says the GI label is optional for spirits, so a protected spirit may not carry the logo.[1]

Reading the label

For food, the Commission says the PDO or PGI label is mandatory; for wine it is optional. The rules now sit in one regulation for food, wine and spirits, Regulation (EU) 2024/1143, which the Commission says entered into force on 13 May 2024.[1] German wine names, which follow the same scheme, are explained in German wine regions explained.

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not name producers, shops or breweries, and does not rate products. It quotes the register's files, many of them the original applications from the 1990s; where the register lists later Official Journal publications, XTOUR has not read them, and the current specification may differ. Dresdner Christstollen, Nürnberger Bratwürste and Oktoberfestbier are described here only from the register's listing, because the register holds no summary file for them and XTOUR has not read their Official Journal texts. City food is covered on XTOUR's destination pages for Nuremberg, Dresden, Munich, Cologne and Lübeck.