comparing German wines to US wines

[ChrisJFontenot]

I am interested in finding out the naming conventions for California wines if you compare them to a German Spatlase or "ice wine." What would they be called in a California or New York wine?
As I understand it(?), Spatlase and auslese and the like indicate the age of the grapes before picking,the later the grape, the sweeter the wine. I like sweet wines, but don't know how to tell that in American wines.

[This message has been edited by ChrisJFontenot (edited 05-28-99).]