German Wine Labels

Many people are confused or put off by the amount of more or less opaque information on German labels. So, here is a rough guide to help you decode them, which also is a good starting point for learning about the wines. You may consult an example label to go with this guide. There is a lot that German label tell the consumer, but there is also plenty they do not say or where they can easily mislead unsuspecting buyers. The following items of informations should be found:

Producer: the name of the estate should be prominent on the label, as the producer is the most crucial factor for the quality of the product. Look for the term "Erzeugerabfüllung", or the new, more strictly defined "Gutsabfüllung", which indicates a wine bottled by the producer/estate. Wines not labelled thus are best left alone. (The Regions sections contain lists of the best growers.)
Grape variety: this should be indicated, but not always is so in the lower qualities. If it is not the variety will be inferior, possibly a blend of them (Müller Thurgau and worse). Legally a wine needs only to contain 85% of the declared variety, and the remaing 15% are a matter of trust unfortunately. The classic variety is Riesling, but some others can be good too. (See Grape Varieties for more.)
Quality/Ripeness level: there is an ascending hierarchy of ripeness levels, which are determined mainly (though not exclusively) by the sugar content of the grapes before fermentation, their must weights. It is thus somewhat confusing to call them "quality levels" as more sugar alone does not make a better wine but only a sweeter or a more alcoholic one. The lowest qualities, Landwein and Tafelwein are normally best avoided. The next level is "Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete" (QbA), which can be of descent quality. Occaisonally though, very fine wines are sold as QbA's, or even Tafelwein, if they violate additional legal restrictions, for example by using new oak barrels. Chaptalisation is allowed for QbA's. No such addition of sugar is allowed for "Qualitätswein mit Prädikat" (QmP), which comes in 6 levels (the "Prädikate"/attributes). They are in ascending order of must weights:
Kabinett < Spätlese < Auslese < Beerenauslese (BA) and Eiswein (ice wine) < Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA)

The extreme must weights of BA's and TBA's (and some Auslesen) are achieved by using botrytised grapes (see picture). Eiswein is made from naturally frozen grapes.
- Additional Subdivisions: The various levels are often further subdivided by means such as (shorter/longer) gold capsules or various numbers of stars on the label. These indicators have no legal definition and can mean different things for different producers. The use of gold capsules for the best Auslesen (GKA) is quite sensible because this category covers a particular wide range of ripeness degrees, yielding wines of rather diverging style.
Sweetness/Dryness: if this is not indicated the wine will be slightly sweet to extremely sweet, in rough correspondence with the ripeness level. Mainly on the domestic market you find wines labelled "trocken" (dry) or "halbtrocken" (semi-dry), indicating a low content of residual sugar of max 9g/l for trocken, max 18g/l for halbtrocken (less in Franken). Wines up to Auslese level can come in dry style. Keep in mind though that not only residual sugar but also acidity, and age, have an important influence on how dry a wine really tastes. The sweetness is adjusted either by stopping the fermentation before all sugar is converted to alcohol, or by adding unfermented sterile must ("Süssreserve / sweet reserve") to a fully fermented wine. The latter method is popular for lower predicates especially among less quality conscious producers. Sweet reserve can raise the residual sugar level, but not the must weight of QmP wines. It is realively easy to abuse sweet reserve, by using stored must from other vintages and different grape varieties without having to declare it.
See also the essay on dry wine.
Alcohol: Alcohol levels tend to be low in Germany, and can be an indicator of residual sugar levels, when the ripeness level is taken into account. Dry Auslesen tend to have the highest alcohol levels, up to 15% vol. in some cases, while Kabinetts, and even TBAs, can come at under 8%.
Vintage: The year when the grapes were grown - not necessarily when they were harvested - is indicated. Eiswein is sometimes harvested as late as in January of the following year. Again, only 85% must actually be from the vintage, creating another loop hole for abuse.
Origin: several levels of specificity (and deception!) are possible. Besides the wider the region of origin, such as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Rheingau, Pfalz, Rheinhessen, Nahe, Franken, Baden, etc. one may find more specific references to either of the following:
- the district: "Bereich Soandso", where "Soandso" is usually a famous village, far away from where the grapes actually were grown. These wines are best avoided.
- a larger vineyard zone: "Blabla-er Soandso"; "Blabla" is a village and "Soandso" a collection of vineyards ("Grosslage"). Grosslage wines are rarely of any interest. Many notorious Grosslagen such as "Niersteiner Gutes Domtal" and "Bernkasteler Kurfürstlay" contain none of the vineyards that these villages are justly famous for.
- a single vineyard: "Blabla-er Soandso", where "Soandso" this time is a not a large zone but a single site. How can you tell? You cann't from the label. You have to know what is a Grosslage and what is a single site ("Einzellage"). Books, such as Johnson's Pocket Guide, can help. Efforts are under way to classify Germanies vineyards according to their quality, but they meet some resistance. I list Johnson & Pigott's "grand cru" vineyards of the MSR region, and those of the VdP Nahe Vineyard Classification.
AP-Number: The "amtliche Prüfungsnummer" is the ID of the wine. Same AP = same wine. The final two digits give the year in which the wine was approved (not the vintage), and the two digits before that give the running number of wines to be approved from the producer in question. Producer and region are coded in the remaining initial digits.