Why do people think "sweet" when they think of German white wine? Chalk it up to the Blue Nun and the terrible grape juice that was mass exported in the 70s and 80s.
Let's break things down. Until the 20th century, only 2 countries in the world were known for producing great wine; France & Germany. Yep, Germany! The truth is that the majority of German wine is not considered sweet (not high in residual sugar). Germans strive for complexity in their wines. Transparency and tension are the goals of every German wine. German wines are generally lower in alcohol than most wines.
If you think french wine is confusing, let's talk about German labeling. There are 7 ratings of German wines. They are, in ascending order:
QbA - this is bleh wine - don't drink it
QmP - means it is quality wine
Kabinett - this style is the most food friendly of all German wines
Spatlese - late harvest wine, but usually NOT sweet
Auslese - "select harvest" and lush with sweetness
Bierenauslese - BA for short - rare and costly
Trocken BA - most expensive of all German wines and the rarest too - the richest and sweetest
Now - trocken means "bone dry" and halbtrocken means "dry to taste" and you may see these monikers show up on labels too.
If the bottle is thin and short and says "Eiswein" - this is the sweetest stuff. The grapes are harvested after the first freeze and they are harvested at night by workers wearing gloves. The goal is to keep all the sugar in the grape in its frozen state to extract more of it in pressing.
Apparently, we have nothing on the Germans when it comes to sweets. Their "not sweet" and our "not sweet" are about 15 sugar packets apart.
Silvaner - this is a german grape. Known for a light body. Label says "trocken" so it should be dry. I bought it because I liked the shape of the bottle. We drank all of this and I still have the bottle. Cost $18.99 @ Wegman's
Wolf Pinot Gris. We did a Pinot Grigio/Gris tasting a couple of months ago and learned that we, as a whole, prefer New World (NW) Pinot Gris. Should have remembered that in the store. Poured this uninspired bottle down the drain. Cost $10.99 at Wegman's
Here is the bottle that make so many cringe. The traditional riesling style bottle. This is a Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Kabinett. Should be food friendly, right? It was a little sweet, but it got consumed anyway. Cost $13.99 @ Wegman's
Believe it or not, Germany doesn't really produce much Gewurztraminer. It is a German grape, but doesn't really grow in Germany. Most people think sweet when they think of this grape. Let's break it down - "gewurz" means "spicy" and "traminer" means "grape." This one is also labeled Kabinett so it should be food friendly. This was one of the sweetest wines I have ever sipped. I drink gewurtz and I could NOT drink this. This $12.99 bottle went down the drain with the sugars clinging to my sink as it went.
We have pretty much decided to either drink really cheap German white wine or leave it all to the Germans to consume.
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