Why is German riesling so much lower alcohol than all other riesling?

German riesling usually checks in at around 7-8% alcohol, whereas riesling from everywhere else, including nearby Alsace and including rieslings made in a similar general style, always checks in at 11-14% alcohol.

What is the reason for the huge difference? I’ve always wondered. Thanks.

Only the sweeter styles of German wine are that low in alcohol (Kabinett, Spatlese, all the way up to TBAs), mainly because they have residual sugar. Most of them have potential alcohol of 12%+, but not all of it is fermented, thus the sweeter/fruity style plus low alcohol. Most of the German dry rieslings are at 12-13% like dry rieslings from other places.

Historically potential alcohol in Germany was lower than a lot of regions because they’re on the northern limits of viticulture and the grapes simply didn’t get as ripe as most other wine-growing areas. With climate change, that’s not as true as it used to be.

Because in the fruity style pradikat wines they stop fermentation before all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Ive actually never looked but I think you would find GGs and trokens to have higher alcohol.

How do they stop the fermentation? Why is this not done in Alsace and other regions?

Thanks.

Sulfur and filtering

Tradition, though the “fruity” style of riesling is now pretty much just for the export market. Domestic consumption in germany is pretty much all trocken now expcept for dessert wines.

…and right to my back door… thank Goodness. I do love me some 7% Kabinet.

You are talking about Rieslings with residual sugar (Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese etc.) for instance from the Mosel or Rheingau. The wines usually have to have at least 85° Öchsle (17° KMW) für Spätlese, which would be app. 12 % alc. Since a part of the sugar is not fermented to alc. to produce (semi-)sweet wine the alc.level is significantly lower.
Dry Rieslings - more common in Souther regions in Germany - usially have alc levels of 13 or above, at least on the top level.

Thanks for the info, everyone.

What are some good examples of dry German riesling that are reasonably priced and reasonably available in the US?

Chris – Relatively few are imported to the U.S. because it’s not a well-known category and Terry Theise – the greatest promoter of Rieslings here – doesn’t like dry ones, so he doesn’t import many of those from his producers and never talks them up much.

Click here for a Wine Searcher list with a fair number from good producers at decent prices. I haven’t had these, but it’s hard to go wrong with Selbach-Oster, Leitz or Kuntz in my experience.

In the cheaper price ranges, you may prefer wines from along the Rhine to those from the Mosel, because the Rhine regions generally are warmer and the acid levels are a little lower. Dry Mosel wines sometimes can be rather shrill, though that is changing with riper vintages and changing winemaking styles.

The really top dry rieslings are the Grosses Gewächs bottlings – the equivalent of First Growths – in the Mosel and Rheingau or Erstes Gewächs from the Rheingau. These must be dry, though they typically are not labelled “Trocken.” They are usually very full-bodied. They are also usually very expensive as these are now the highest status wines in Germany short of the very late harvest bottlings.

In the reasonably priced category a couple good ones are Lauer’s Barrel X and Immich’s CAI. None of these are going to be all that available, however.

Dressner has just signed Koehler-Ruprecht, which should greatly increase their availability (which until now has been limited to a couple of regions in the West). Their 2010 trocken rieslings are amazing, keep an eye out for them in the coming months.

M @ r k

Chris,
I could name dozens of very good dry (= trocken) German Rieslings, but I have no idea what´s available for you.
I recommend to look for the top Riesling producers, but first try their basic Rieslings (often called Gutsriesling, without any vineyard designation) to check if you like the style. Most are available HERE below 10 €. If your budget is appropriate you can climb up the ladder step by step with time …

Some names: Wittmann, (Klaus-Peter) Keller, Kuhn, Rebholz, Christmann, Bassermann-Jordan, Leitz …

Attention: while the basic Rieslings are oftenm dry, the more expensive products can have residual sugar, be sure to check if TROCKEN is indicated.
Wines designated GROSSES GEWÄCHS (in Rheingau ERSTES GEWÄCHS) are always dry !

BTW: great Rieslings come also from Austria (Wachau and neighbouring regions) and they are far more often dry than off-dry: Hirtzberger, Prager, F.X.Pichler, Rudi Pichler, Alzinger, Brundlmayer, Gobelsburg, Knoll, Velich, Schmelz …
Top wines are often called SMARAGD, while FEDERSPIEL and STEINFEDER are lighter (and cheaper)

Just a couple of clarifications to Robert’s post:

  1. I presume the “Kuhn” he’s mentioning is Peter-Jakob Kühn – there are a lot of others with that name.

  2. These days, you may have to check the back label to find the word “trocken,” and sometimes you won’t even find it there. Generally, if a wine is 13% alcohol or above, it will be trocken (some trockens will be lower, but some wines with residual sugar can get into the 12% range, too.)

Thanks for the correction - of course P J KÜHN
(I wondered if I should write KUEHN or KÜHN - and unfortunately the wrong Kuhn remained … )
pileon

There are so many awesome wines from sweet, to half dry, to 3/4 dry all the way to extra dry. Stephen Bitterolf at Crush,and ( maybe Rosemary?) at Chambers both in NYC, will send you mixed case that will surely perk your interest. For about the cost of a single bottle of highly allocated Napa Cabernet Sauvignon you could get 12 awesome bottles of riesling from all across the sweet/dry spectrum.

1 bttl 2009/2010 Immich C.A.I. $19
1 bttl 2009/2010 A.J, Adam D.H. Kab $24
1 bttl 2010 Willi Schaefer G D Spat $40
1 bttl 2010 Willi Schaefer G D kab $22
1 bttl 2009/2010 Stein Himm. Kab trocken $19
1 bttl 2010 Alzinger Hohereck $55
1 bttl 2010 Lauer Senior $25
1 bttl 2009/2010 Steinmetz Geierslay $23
1 bttl 2010 Schafer-Frohlich Spat $36
1 bttl 2010 Schafer-Frohlich Kab $27
1 bttl 2010 Clemns Busch Fahrlay GG $47
1 bttl Weiser-Kunstler Ellergrub Kab $23

$360

That’s about a bottle of Harlan os Cos d’Estournel.

btw there are a ton more producers, but something like this should get you stirred up!

More accurately: Chilling and then sterile filtration. Fermentation is not arrested through sulfuring anymore -far too many negatives to that approach. Free sulfur needs to be a bit higher in wines with residual sugar, but in the case of your average kabinett wine, not remarkably higher. Auslese and above will have more, but the threshold for tasting free sulphur lies at about 80 mg/l. If the participants of the Amtliche Prüfung tasting can detect sulfur, they deduct points and you may end up with a declassified wine that isn’t granted a Prädikat.

As has been noted, most German Riesling produced these days is dry and usually contains around 12% alc. give or take. The best way to get more dry Riesling on the shelf at your local store is to ask for it. I’m not sure what is available to you, but there are probably dozens of threads here devoted to dry German Riesling.

Cheers,
Bill

I don’t know diddly squat about vinifera physiology, but they’re so far north in Germany [and so far from the Gulf Stream] that it’s pretty amazing they can grow vinifera in the first place.

Getting the vines to absorb & process the calories necessary for high-alcohol wines might be physiologically impossible at that latitude [unless maybe you’re letting the grapes hang until frost]:
european_vinous_latitude_lines_SMALL.jpg

Note that Frankfurt, which is at roughly the same latitude as the Urzig-Erden bend in the Mosel river, is also at roughly the same latitude as lower Saskatchewan:
frankfurt_latitude_SMALL.jpg

Unless maybe they’re using some weird projection of the globe which screws up latitudes…

Nathan,

Excellent. I was just going to write that we’re too damn far north.