Abbreviation for "quality wine or quality spark ling wine of specified regions" for a wine or sparkling wine of the highest quality level with controlled origin. New quality levels and wine designations were introduced by the EU wine market regulation valid from 2009 (see under quality system). However, the traditional designation QbA is still permitted in Germany and South Tyrol. However, this is increasingly being abandoned and the German wine law now only refers to quality wine or quality sparkling wine. In Austria, on the other hand, QbA was never in use.
The glossary is a monumental achievement and one of the most important contributions to wine knowledge. Of all the encyclopaedias I use on the subject of wine, it is by far the most important. That was the case ten years ago and it hasn't changed since.
Andreas Essl
Autor, Modena