Trocken

[Winent]

Wine beginner here. Have a question about the word "troken". Does it not mean "dry" when you see it on German wine bottles? If so, then why is trockenberenauslese riper/sweeter than berenauslese? Just curious.

[Catch 22]

I believe the "trocken" in the name refers to the condition of the grape, which is raisin like, and therefore has a very high sugar percentage. In this case, the "dry" does not pertain to the residual sugar left from fermentation. If I am mistaken, it won't take long before I am corrected!

[Bucko]

Trocken is German for "dry," and cannot contain more than 0.9% residual sugar. Halbtrocken means "half-dry."

That said, Trockenbeerenauslese is the sweetest and most expensive of German wines. It does not make sense until you break the word down into parts:

Trocken - The grapes are so shriveled that they are almost "dried up."

Beeren - Individual grapes.

Auslese - Special Selection.

Bucko

[Thomas]

Give that man, Bucko, a cigar. And I know he would like one....

[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).]

[Bucko]

Make it a Partagas Maduro, three fingers of Kentucky Spirit, an adobe fireplace out on the deck, and we are there!

Bucko