In case you aren’t solely sure the right way to navigate all of the terminology on German wine labels, you’re not alone. Like many world areas, German wine classifications are governmentally regulated and geospecific. In Germany, winemakers use phrases like Prädikatswein, Trocken, Auslese, and extra to indicate high quality in addition to traits like dryness and ripeness.
These stylistic designations are on the coronary heart of “Only a Contact,” Betsy Andrews’ function story on the range of off-dry German wines in Imbibe’s Could/June 2025 challenge. “The final time I used to be in Germany, in 2016, I targeted on dry Rieslings,” Andrews writes. On a newer journey via the Mosel area, she was drawn to lusher late-harvest wines. “The Riesling’s acidity … goes down a lot extra enjoyably with a counterbalancing dose of residual sugar,” she writes.
To discover ways to discover these barely sweeter Rieslings stateside, it helps to have a working data of German wine classifications. Right here’s all the things it’s essential know.
High quality Rankings
All German wine is categorized by high quality, and winemakers are legally required to incorporate that rating on their labels. Entry-level desk wine known as Deutscher. Few of those bottles are made, nonetheless, they usually’re not often exported.
Classes you’re extra more likely to see within the U.S. embrace Landwein, Qualitätswein, and Prädikatswein. Landwein means the wine has a protected geographical indication. If a bottle reads “Mosel Landwein,” as an illustration, a minimum of 85% of its grapes got here from Germany’s Mosel area.
Bottles labeled Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein are made solely from grapes grown in one in all Germany’s 13 designated viticultural areas. All observe governmentally regulated winemaking necessities for every selection and area, spanning ripeness and alcohol ranges. Of the 2 classes, Prädikatswein bottles are thought of the perfect of the bunch.
Dryness Classes
German wines are additional categorized by dryness and ripeness, which sound synonymous. Nonetheless, on this context, they relate to completely different elements of the harvest and winemaking processes. In German wine, dryness refers to how candy winemakers vinify their juice, whereas ripeness refers to how ripe the grapes have been at harvest.
Most German wines you’ll discover within the U.S. fall into one in all two dryness classes: Trocken, which suggests dry; and Halbtrocken, or off-dry. Trocken wines include as much as 9 grams per liter of residual sugar. Halbtrocken have as much as 15 grams per liter.
Some German winemakers additionally use the time period Feinherb on the labels of off-dry wines which are normally a contact sweeter-tasting than Halbtrockens however offset by brilliant acidity. Curious to style it for your self? In “Only a Contact,” Andrews describes one such bottle, Fritz Haag Riesling Feinherb 2023, as “mild, floral, and barely candy.”
Ripeness Classifications
Germany’s ripeness scale spans six classes. The place to begin is Kabinett, or wines created from fruit that was harvested upon ripening. These wines will typically style crisp, not candy, and may also embrace the phrase “Trocken” on their labels.
Kabinett Rieslings to strive embrace Dr. Thanich’s Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett 2023, which Andrews says “begins off heady with peaches and finishes in lemon-lime acidity.” It has simply 9 % ABV. “That’s a bonus of those sweeter wines: Because the yeast hasn’t totally fermented all of the sugar in them, they’re decrease in alcohol,” she writes.
Ageability is one other attribute to many sweeter wines, together with the Ürziger Würzgarten Kabinett 2020. “Because it ages, it can mellow, gaining new layers of taste,” Andrews writes.
The following stage of ripeness is Spätlese, which interprets to “late harvest.” These bottles function grapes that have been on the vine longer, and thus developed extra sugars earlier than they have been picked.
That’s to not say all Spätlese wines will style candy, although. If a winemaker makes use of any such fruit to make a dry wine, they might put the phrases “Spatlese Trocken” on the label. The 2023 Dr H Thanish Bernkasteler Physician Riesling Spatlese, for instance, has an nearly spicy high quality with balanced brightness.
Auslese means “choose harvest,” and refers to wines created from fastidiously chosen, very ripe fruit. These embrace Schloss Lieser’s Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel, which mixes macerated strawberry flavors with brisk minerally flavors, and Markus Molitor Zeltinger Schlossberg Auslese 2022, an off-dry Riesling that Andrews describes as “all flowers and lychees.”
In case you see the phrases “Auslese Trocken” on a German wine label, which means the winemaker used these grapes to make a dry expression.
Subsequent up is Beerenauslese, a class whose identify interprets to “berry choose harvest.” Solely made in sure years—pending the correct climate circumstances—these wines function hand-picked grapes that normally are contaminated with noble rot. The poetic-sounding phrase utilized by winemakers refers back to the fungus, Botrytis cinerea. It creates among the world’s most revered dessert wines, like Sauternes and Tokaji.
Wines labeled Trockenbeerenauslese, or “dry berry choose harvest,” are additionally solely made in sure years and with grapes contaminated with noble rot. Overripe on the vine, the fruit is so dry that it nearly resembles raisins when it’s picked by hand.
The ultimate class is Eiswein, or “ice wine.” The fruit used to make these wines froze on the vine after reaching Beerenauslese-level ripeness and was pressed whereas frozen. Solely harvested when climate permits, Eiswein is a rarified, ultra-ripe expression of Riesling—and a candy reminder of all of the locations German wine can take you.
