Trocken

[Randy Caparoso]

Trocken, in German wine terminolgy, refers to wine with less than 9 grams per liter residual sugar (roughly the same as the American measurement of percent of sugar per 100 grams of soluble solution).

It's a well accepted fact that wines between .6% and 1% residual sugar by weight are just barely perceptively sweet to the average palate. But given the higher acid levels of German grown wines -- and the fact that higher acidity makes wines taste "less" sweet (just as more vinegar makes a vinaigrette less oily) -- the German definition of Trocken would indicate a wine with a level of sweetness that basically is not perceptable at all.

German Halbtrocken (or "Half Dry"), by the way, is also nice -- indicating up to 18 grams of sugar per liter. The taste of most Halbtrockens is either "virtually" dry or with just a "whisper" of sweetness to most palates. Keeping in mind that the human ability to detect sugar varies from individual to individual.


[This message has been edited by Randy Caparoso (edited 01-08-2000).]