Rebelein Hans

The German chemist Dr. Hans Rebelein (1916-1975) studied chemistry in Würzburg (Franconia, Bavaria). From 1945 he was an employee at the Staatliche Chemische Untersuchungs-Anstalt in Würzburg. This was followed by further studies in food technology and a doctorate with a wine chemistry topic. Afterwards his whole interest was directed towards analytical wine evaluation with the help of methods which he had partly developed and simplified. His analytical methods and evaluation principles, which were named after him, received national and international attention and were incorporated into the wine analysis regulations.

Rebelein made a great contribution to the development of a rapid method for the determination of alcohol content, residual sugar, free and total sulphurous acid, tartaric acid and lactic acid. He gained further insights into the relationship between residual extract and total alcohol content. This has greatly simplified the classification of quality wines. Thanks to his expertise, he became a member of the Federal Committee for Wine Research and a permanent member of the Wine Analysis Commission. For the determination of glycerol and butylene glycol he was awarded the honorary diploma of the International Wine Office in Paris in 1958. His methods are often referred to under the collective term Rebelein method. Rebelein also published numerous papers.