German Riesling explained. How to read the label and find the style.

Riesling on the Mosel and the Rhine

Germany is the northernmost major wine-producing country in Europe. On the steep river slopes of the Mosel and the Rhine, stony soils store and radiate heat that helps Riesling ripen in a cool climate. Riesling is aromatic with naturally high acidity, which is the backbone of its long ageing potential. With climate change, grapes now ripen earlier, so more wines are dry and fuller.

At the start of the 19th century, top German Rieslings sold for more than the great wines of Bordeaux and Champagne. Their image suffered later in the 20th century from cheap, sweet export brands, most not even made from Riesling. Peter Richards and Fredrik Lindfors, Best Sommelier of the Nordics 2017, set out to show the full range.

The Prädikat ladder: Kabinett to Eiswein

The German Wine Law of 1971 ranks Prädikatswein by grape ripeness at harvest. It is a guide to style rather than quality. In ascending order: Kabinett, light, crisp and low in alcohol; Spätlese, late harvest and more intense; Auslese, selected ripe bunches, from semi-sweet to truly sweet; Beerenauslese, individually picked overripe berries usually affected by noble rot; Trockenbeerenauslese, nearly raisined botrytis berries; and Eiswein, made from grapes picked and pressed while frozen, so that the ice stays behind and the juice is concentrated in sugar, acidity and flavor. Many growers blame climate change for the fact that good Eiswein vintages have become rarer than in the 1980s and 1990s.

Because one Auslese can taste much drier than another, producers use extra signals such as gold capsules and stars on the label for riper selections. The hosts compare two Auslese wines, one at 11.5% and one at 8% alcohol. Find out how big the difference is, and why checking the alcohol figure is a handy shortcut.

Trocken, halbtrocken and feinherb

Separate terms describe sweetness in the finished wine. Trocken means dry, generally up to 9 grams of sugar per liter. Halbtrocken is medium-dry, up to 18 grams. Feinherb is a looser term for off-dry wines that taste neither fully dry nor sweet. Because Riesling's acidity is so high, many wines with some sugar still taste balanced or even dry.

Fredrik pours a Kabinett Feinherb from Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, a producer he credits as the first to put feinherb on its labels, and pairs it with a fragrant Thai green curry soup with shrimp.

The VDP classification

Germany's top estates also belong to the VDP, whose logo is an eagle with a bunch of grapes on its chest. Its pyramid is based on vineyard sites: Gutswein (estate wine), Ortswein (village wine), Erste Lage, comparable to a French Premier Cru, and Grosse Lage, comparable to Grand Cru. A dry wine from a Grosse Lage site is labeled Grosses Gewächs, shown as GG.

The sugar and acid experiment, pairings and blind tastings

The experiment is one you can repeat at home. Three glasses of water get no honey, one spoonful and three spoonfuls, and then lemon juice is added step by step. Watch Fredrik taste each one and discover how acidity can make even a very sweet liquid taste balanced, and how too much acid without sugar becomes harsh. It is a vivid lesson in the balance of sugar and acidity.

Each host also tastes a Riesling blind and reasons through ripeness, sweetness and structure, with at least one curveball. The final pairing is pork sausage with sauerkraut and creamy potatoes, a match the hosts call seamless. See which style of Riesling they choose for it.

Go furtherTo explore the estates, vineyards and wines of Germany further, the wein.plus wine guide is a great resource.