stuck on reislings

[Innkeeper]

Hi Now, and welcome to the Wine Board. Riesling could very well be the most versitile grape in the whole world. Only Germany gives you a detailed description of what is in the bottle. Will get back to them later. In the New World (regions outside of Western Europe) you don't get too much information on the label unless the producer decides to give you some. Usually the labels either have the word "Dry" on them or no other words. When there are no other words, the wine is not dry. How off dry these wines are can only be discovered through experience. One New World exception is Australia, where most Rieslings are bone dry.

In the Old World, in addition to Germany, major producers are Austria, and the Alsace. Rieslings from the Alsace are always bone dry unless they are in series of "late harvest" bottlings. Austria tries to emulate Germany some of the time.

Germany gives you lots of clues on the label. First of all they give you the readings of Troken and Halb Troken. These mean dry and half dry. Germans also list the degrees of brix as Riesling grapes are harvested. This results in wines that are labeled Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, and Trokenbeerenauslese. These descriptions usually, but not always, result in wines of conmensurate sweetness.

If all this leaves more confused than when we started, try this: ask advice from a trusted retailer.