Nomadic Wines

German wines demystified... a little

German wines have recently become my favorite wines. Why? It is hard to spend over $40 on a bottle, they drink nicely with food, and they have a uniqueness in each wine. I am still an amateur - I still do not know much about variation between vintages or variation among the sub-regions (Mosel, Nahe, Mittelrhein, etc). That said, I wanted to share the insights I have gained. Note: there are a lot of grapes planted in Germany but riesling is the most common and my favorite. It carries lots of fruit, transfers minerality, and can age forever.

First, German wines have difficult labels. Tougher than French labels because the words are longer and they do not have user-friendly labeling practices. For example, it is tough to predict where the vineyard name will be printed. Also, there are producer names which are confusing because they are common. Example: multiple producers with Prum or Christoffel in the name. Finally, it seems like wines are made in small batches based on vineyards or picking dates... but the names of the wines aren't very different.

If you want a step-by-step primer to reading labels, this webpage is a good place to start. While it would be nice if everyone understood labels in detail, I have some suggestions to simplify. Here are my few hints to reading the labels:

Start by looking for the word "trocken", either by itself or in the word "halbtrocken". I often hear folks say they don't like the sweetness in a German riesling. Most German rieslings do have sweetness, so when you see these words you know you've found dry (not sweet) options. "Trocken" literally means dry, so "halbtrocken" means half-dry.

You can look for the words Tablewine, Qualitätswein or "Qualitätswein mit Prädikat"... but I don't think they tell you very much. But within the latter category, that is where you find the best wines (both pricey and reasonable).

So next, look for the words Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese (rare), or Trockenbeerenauslese (very rare). What do they mean? In general, they are indications of ripeness, sweetness, and sugar level at harvest.

Kabinett is the lowest level in terms of ripeness and sweetness. As a result, they usually show the most acidity and often show off the minerality of the vineyard. They are not meant to age long-term.

Spätlese is the next level in ripeness. It literally means late harvest. They pick the grapes at least a week after the first picking. The best ones retain the acidity, but are more intense than Kabinett.

Auslese means select harvest, and it occurs even later. Auslese are handpicked much later and as a result, they can be very sweet. I really love a medium-aged Auslese (like 5-10 years old) with spicy foods.

Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese are continuations of the same trend, but they are dessert wines. They are effected by noble rot and they can age for a long time.

That's where I'd start. Send me an email and I'd be happy to send along some specific recommendations.

If you want to learn more, check out the German Wine Society or the German Wine Information Bureau USA. Of course Wikipedia also has great information.

Labels: classification, education, German, wine

posted by nomadfromcincy @ 9:42 AM