How To Read A German Wine Label - Part II

Beerenauslese (Berries Selected Harvest)
Minimum Must Weight (Oeschle): approx. 120°

Beerenauslese is a dessert wine-style late harvest wine. It is made from individually selected fully botrytis-affected grapes that have shriveled about half way.



It is not made in many vintages because conditions need to be ideal for the grapes to ripen to this extent, so these wines are very hard to find and expensive. They are usually packaged in 375ml bottles, and are incredibly rich with creamy honey and raisin flavors.



Trockenbeerenauslese (Drying Berry Selected Harvest)
Minimum Must Weight (Oeschle): approx. 150°

Trockenbeerenauslese is also known as TBA for short. It is the highest category in the Prädikatswein category of the German wine classifications. The grapes are individually picked and shrivelled with noble rot, often to the point of appearing like a raisin.



As the grapes are dried by botrytis and very little juice is yielded, this wine is not produced in many vintages. They are dependent on weather conditions, which determine whether botrytis wines will even be possible in a given year. Producing these dessert wines is expensive and labor-intensive. Ultra-rich and deep golden orange in color, it is the liquid gold in a bottle!



sources: drloosen.com, seaboardwine.com

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