I have started looking into German wines a little bit more recently and noticed some producers label their wines specifically by capsule color. I looked at Muller’s meanings (White=dry, Green=offdry, Gold=sweet) and was wondering if these translate to a general rule across the board, or do other producers have their own color schemes?
There is no “general” rule…for many there is a gold capsule that they use on auction bottlings…but it’s not always an indication as some producers us them for all their GG, Auslese, or some other designation or category of their wines.
Clemens Busch use different coloured capsules to differentiate between the different soil types with their GGs
well damn. seems like that would be a very useful thing for producers to employ.
I guess it’s being used for various purposes now, but I think it originated with sweet wines to differentiate quality levels within a Pradikat (usually Auslese) in a way that the wine label laws did not allow. Some producers (e.g., J.J. Christoffel and Kerpen) used asterisks/stars. Others used different capsules. “Long gold capsule” Ausleses were the most intense.
Justerini & Brooks has a good explanation of the history:
“Goldcapsule” is not defined by German wine laws, rather a means used by estates to distinguish higher-quality wines within one Prädikat, especially the Auslese category, from their basic lots. To understand the background better, it is very helpful to look back a few decades. Before 1971, there were four recognized levels of Auslese wines in Germany. You could find wines labeled as „Auslese“, „Feine Auslese“, „Feinste Auslese“, and „Hochfeine Auslese“. The longer the name the higher the concentration – usually achieved by botrytis - and the smaller the production.
In an effort to simplify the universal marketing of German wines, the government stepped in and revised the Prädikat system to allow for only one Auslese category. The new rule was met with frustration by the high-quality-conscious winemakers, mostly those from the Mosel, who had perfected the art of selective harvesting and now were deprived of the traditional means to express the different levels. The issue with Auslese in particular is that it is the Prädikat level with the widest Oechsle range (in Germany, the natural concentration of the grape juice at harvest is measured in degrees Oechsle). On one end of the spectrum is a style closer to Spätlese and on the other end is Beerenauslese. So with just Auslese on the label how would a customer know if it was closer to Spätlese style or more close coming to a BA? Since the 1971 law forbid use of wording to denote special bottling within a Prädikat, estates got around that by developing other means of identification.
The most acknowledged method – and the one also used by Joh. Jos. Prüm estate - is a golden capsule, in contrast to the white capsule used for the “basic” Auslese. A short gold capsule usually means a presence of botrytis and a long gold capsule represents a remarkably higher percentage of botrytis and consequently concentration, close in quality and style to a Beerenauslese.
Molitor uses different colour capsules, and also stars. But if you want to understand how it works and what it means, you should probably start by figuring out the Duckworth Lewis method first…
Schloss Johannisberg uses different color capsules to denote different bottling type (e.g. trocken, kabinett, spatlese, etc.).
Some producers use all gold-colored capsules. Some use a mix.
There is no system. That is the system.
Johannisberg was the first, if I’m not mistaken. Started in the 19th century and used to designate higher quality wines. A few other high end Rheingau producers followed. Now it’s more a tradition thing there and refers to different pradikats.