Sachsen is the easternmost and one of the smallest German wine regions, around 460 hectares strung along the Elbe from the edge of Dresden upstream past Radebeul to Meissen and Diesbar-Seußlitz. It is sometimes called the Elbtal, and the vineyards sit on terraced granite and loess slopes above the river, many of them restored from the ruins left by phylloxera and a century of neglect.

The climate is continental and the growing season short, so the plantings favour early ripening whites: Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Weissburgunder and Grauburgunder, along with the local Goldriesling, a crossing grown almost nowhere else. Wines are dry, light and crisp. Production is small enough that very little is seen outside Saxony, and most of it is sold through the two large estates at Wackerbarth and Proschwitz or straight from the growers along the Saxon Wine Route.