The German wine label
Some say it's intimidating. Others say so, too.
The German wine label is said to be intimidating. But really, the label is your friend. It offers useful information. The key is to know which part of the information to ignore. German wine labels go through a wave of redesigns these days and quite a few producers have moved all but the most basic facts of the wine from the front to the back label. This should make it a little easier for the casual wine consumer. As a rule of thumb, the smaller the font size the less one needs to worry about it.
What to look out for
Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein, Trockenbeerenauslese: These terms refer to sugar levels of the grapes at harvest. The lighter styles Kabinett and Spätlese can be sweet or dry, depending on what the winemaker decided to produce. Consult the alcohol level: is it a Kabinett at 9.5% alcohol then it will be sweet because a good deal of the sugars have not been converted to alcohol. From Auslese to Trockenbeerenauslese all Rieslings are sweet.
The alcohol level: reveals a good deal about the style of a wine without the need for a single umlaut. If you don't know whether a wine labeled "Spätlese" is dry or sweet take a look at the alcohol level. If it is 13% then the Riesling will most likely, if not completely, be dry. If it's 12% or less then chances are that the wine will be on the sweet or at least off-dry side. The reason for this is simple: during fermentation the yeasts convert the grape's sugars into alcohol. Therefore the higher the alcohol level the less sugar is left in the wine.
Trocken: means "dry" in German. Which means it's not sweet.
Halbtrocken: German for half dry. Which means it's not completely dry. However, if the acidity level is high chances are you may not even taste the residual sugar.
Feinherb: like halbtrocken, this wine has some residual sugar left which you may or may not be able to detect. Definitely not a sweet wine.
And finally, the kafkaesque AP number: AP stands for "Amtliche Prüfnummer". This is useful primarily for German bureaucracy. And wine writers who use the number to identify a particular bottling of a wine. But it doesn't help much to make a buying decision in the store.
Of course, the most important piece of information is the name of the producer. A wine from a fine vineyard and from a great vintage can be mediocre if the winemaker did not make the wine well. It is helpful to write down producer names of wines you liked.
