Sweet wines

[wondersofwine]

Spatlese means from grapes picked later in the harvest (therefore likely to be riper and sweeter and may impart residual sugar to the wine). Spatlese would appear on the label. Kabinett is a possible indication of a dryer wine. Auslese means specially selected grapes and may have more residual sugar than the spatlese wines. Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauselese refer to grapes that have been hit by a beneficial fungus (?) (botrytis) that concentrates the sugar and leads to luscious, expensive dessert wines. I may not have the latter part scientifically accurate but that's the gist of it. Eiswein (not available in every vintage) is from grapes that were partly frozen and a concentrated sweet grape juice is left in the portion of the grape not turned to ice crystals. Can be very luscious and sweet.