Riesling Grape Guide
A visual guide to the riesling grape + a sweetness level break down you didn't know you needed
Riesling is one of the most magical grapes
Sadly this grape is misunderstood by the average wine consumer. It is of no fault to the consumer.
It is complicated to learn the sweetness levels in German rieslings and to understand their labels. Even wine shop owners, employees and sommeliers still have trouble with this system.
Not every country will tell you the sweetness level on the label.
There used to be a lot of very low quality mass produced sweet riesling on the market, this has changed.
There still is a stigma about drinking sweet wines.
A sweet wine does not make it an inferior wine. Some of the best wines in the world are very sweet.
Sugar and labeling
German dry to sweet riesling labels
Trocken or Selection on the label means these wines are dry, 9 g/L RS or less (RS= residual sugar).
Halbtrocken or Classic on the label means these wines are off-dry or slightly sweet with 12-15 g/L RS or less.
Liebliche on the label means these wines are sweet, up to 45 g/L RS.
süß or Süss on the label means these wines are sweet, more than 45 g/L RS.
The following German wines are classified for their ripeness level at picking. The levels are part of the Prädikatswein, or German quality classification system.
Kabinett on the label means these wines were picked at the normal harvest time and range from dry to sweet. Look for the word Trocken on the label for a dry version.
Spätlese, or “late harvest” just means these grapes stayed on the vines longer to develop more sugar concentration. These wines range from dry to sweet and tend to be sweeter than Kabinett. But if you see Trocken on the label, it is a dry with higher alcohol.
Auslese, or “select harvest” on the label means these wines were left on the vines longer and have been hand picked, sometimes including grapes that developed noble rot. These wines are usually sweeter, but sometimes you’ll find a wine that is drier in style.
Beerenauslese, or “berry select harvest” aka BA, on the label indicates a rare wine. The grapes used to make this wine are hand harvested, very overripe and have developed noble rot. The conditions only happen in special years. These wines can age for a long time and are very sweet.
Trockenbeerenauslese, or “dry berry select harvest” aka TBA, on the label also indicates a rare wine. The grapes used to make this wine are hand harvested, have dried out on the vine and have developed noble rot. These wines have the ability to age for decades. These are special nectar-like sweet dessert wines.
Image from Wine Searcher
How to tell the sweetness of riesling in other countries
Most of the time, riesling from Clare and Eden Valley in Australia are dry as well as ones from Alsace, France. For other countries that don’t have the sweetness level on the label, you need to rely on their abv (alcohol by volume).1
If the abv is less than 11.5% chances are this is going to be an off-dry wine. Riesling wines with abv under 9% will be sweet. If the abv is 11.5% or higher for riesling, it will most likely be a dry wine. There is wiggle room in this, so don’t hold that to be an exact method to figuring out the sweetness.
Now that you have all this information, buy a couple of bottles of riesling, open them side by side and see what style you like best. You may just find you love them all, like me!
You can also always do a google for the wine tech sheet to see the residual sugar in the wine. It is easiest to google the producer to find it on their website, but if that doesn’t work try the importer, they usually provide tech sheets of wines in their portfolios.
Great information and breakdown of the “sweetness” levels of Reisling. I work in retail wine and this is very valuable information to add to my knowledge!