How to read a German wine label

German labels have a reputation for being difficult. It is really the other way round: few countries tell you more about what is in the bottle, you just need to know what the words mean. Here are the four things to look for.

1. The place: village + vineyard

"Brauneberger Juffer" means the Juffer vineyard in the village of Brauneberg. The form is always the same: the village name with an -er ending, then the vineyard. If a vineyard name is on the label, the grapes must come from there. The Kabinett from Bauer is an example: the Juffer is a pure south-facing slope with gradients up to 80%, and the blue-grey weathered clay slate sets the tone of the wine.

2. The dryness scale: trocken, halbtrocken, feinherb

Trocken means dry, and is legally defined: at most 4 grams of residual sugar per litre, or up to 9 when the acidity is high enough. Halbtrocken is off-dry, up to 12 grams, or 18 with the same acidity condition. Feinherb is not in the regulations, but is used for wines around and a little above off-dry. We have written a separate article on feinherb.

3. Prädikat: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese

Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese are not about sweetness in the wine but about how ripe the grapes were at harvest. Kabinett is picked earliest and gives the lightest wines. Spätlese is late-harvested, with more concentration. Auslese means selected, extra-ripe bunches. Ripeness and sweetness are two different things: a Spätlese can be fermented fully dry. That is why you see combinations like "Kabinett trocken" (light and dry, like Bauer's Juffer at 11.5%) and "Spätlese feinherb" (ripe and off-dry, like Kammer Feinherb from Paulinshof).

4. GG: Grosses Gewächs

GG stands for Grosses Gewächs, the top of the German classification for dry wine: a dry wine from a classified top vineyard. Brauneberger Kammer GG comes from the Kammer vineyard, owned outright by Paulinshof, hand-picked from old vines.

Try it in practice

All our German wines are in the Germany selection, with soil and winemaking described per wine. Next time you see "Riesling Kabinett trocken" at Vinmonopolet, you know exactly what you are getting: a light, dry Riesling from early-picked grapes.