THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608080042
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F2 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 46 lines
1. Schumann-Nagler - The producer.
2. Rheingau - The region of origin. There are 13; among the other well-known ones are Rheinhessen, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Nahe, Pfalz and Franken.
3. 1989er - The vintage. Germany has not had a poor vintage since 1987.
4. Johannisberger - In this case, the well-known village of Johannisberg, with the suffix ``er,'' lends its name to a ``grosslagen,'' or combined vineyard site like a commune in Bordeaux. On other labels, the same word could designate the village from which a single-vineyard wine comes.
5. Erntebringer - Paired with Johannisberger, this completes the name of the combined vineyard site. On other labels, the word following Johannisberger might be the name of a single vineyard, such as Holle and Klaus.
6. Riesling - The grape variety, this being the noblest of the white varieties grown in Germany. Others might be the less piquant Muller-Thurgau, Silvaner or Scheurebe.
7. Kabinett - One of the six attributes of top quality German wines (Qualitatswein mit Pradikat). The attributes are determined by order of ripeness of grapes at harvest. Kabinetts usually are relatively light and dry wines made from normally ripe grapes. Next in order comes Spatlese, from grapes harvested later; therefore, the wines are more intense in flavor, but not necessarily sweet. Auslese means the wines are made of specially selected, very ripe grape bunches and are rich and usually somewhat sweet. Beerenauslese are from specially selected, very ripe individual grapes. Trockenbeerenauslese are from individually selected very ripe and dried up grapes. And Eiswein on the label means the wine is a Beerenauslese made from grapes that were harvested and pressed while frozen. The various Beerenauslese are thick and honeyed and longlasting in a cellar.
8. Erzeugerabfullung - It means the bottle has been filled by the owner, and can be used to designate a wine that has been produced and bottled on an estate. The word Gutsabfullung is also used to designate an estate wine. Less than one percent of German wine is produced and bottled on estate, much of it being inexpensive wines such as Liebfraumilch. But all of the wines imported by Chapin Cellars of Virginia Beach are estate wines. MEMO: Main story on page F1. ILLUSTRATION: Photo of label
Reading German wine labels doesn't have to be as intimidating as it
looks. The simple guide below will get you on your way. by CNB