Many are intimidated by German wines, and think those long words are impossible to understand. Besides, who knows what the Wine inside actually tastes like? But it’s not so very difficult. You really only need to know two things to understand the basics of the German wine label. First, like Burgundy, place is the critical distinguishing mark. If there is a specific vineyard, it will be the first thing named. And, like Burgundy, there will be a town first and then the vineyard. Thus, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, the Sonnenuhr (sundial) vineyard in the town of Wehlen. Next comes the grape. Somewhere on the label, or possibly on the back label, will be the area where the grapes were grown, in this case Mosel.

The second thing you need to understand is the German insistence to tell you how ripe the grapes were when harvested. No other country does this as precisely as the Germans. Thus, the wine, in ascending order of ripeness, may be a Kabinett, or Spätlese (literally late harvest), or Auslese (essentially a selected late harvest). Those are the ripeness levels you will most often come across. And it is important to remember that these terms have nothing to do with whether the wine is dry or sweet. They refer only to the amount of sugar at harvest. The label might go on by saying Trocken (meaning dry) or halb-trocken (meaning dry-ish, now less frequently used) or Feinherb, which is a non-regulated term, unlike the others, which indicates the wine is fairly dry and suitable for normal table use. Finally, if it says nothing, as in Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett, that means the wine will have some residual sugar in it, but not be a dessert wine. There are three categories of dessert wines, with ascending levels of sweetness: Beerenauslese, Eiswein, and Trockenbeerenauslese. These wines are quite rare and difficult to make and thus quite expensive.

There are many other details you can learn, more about the regions, the vineyards, the grapes, the legal parameters, the tests and quality controls. The great virtue of the German wine label is that it carries a great deal of information about the wine, more really than any other country’s labels.

But the basics are simple and straightforward: vintage, place (vineyard, area), grape, ripeness level, sweetness and maker.