All wine is a natural product that varies from one year to the next, but this is especially true of German wine. Since most of the great German wine regions are the most northerly on the planet, they are subject to annual variation more than most. Some years produce thin wines lacking in sugar but with searingly high acidity, whereas others are extremely hot and give super-rich wines with low acidity - this is becoming more common now that global warming is upon us. One further factor enters the equation: botrytis cinerea, the so-called 'noble rot' or 'Edelfäule'. This is a harmless fungus that pierces microscopic holes in the grapeskins, that are just large enough to allow the water content of the grapes to evaporate, but are too small to allow the sugar to escape. The result is fabulously sweet wines that are some of the most expensive white wines in the world. This fungus is also responsible for the sweet wines of Sauternes, Barsac, and Hungarian Tokay, and in time the wines will develop the flavour of honey. These are dessert wines, and are very sweet and luscious, and generally one glass is enough.

The German wine laws were radically overhauled in 1971, and the massive changes included a dramatic simplification of the number of vineyards, with many of supposedly similar characteristics being amalgamated. Previously there were over 20,000 recognised vineyards in Germany; this was reduced to around 2,600. In the village of Zeltingen on the Mosel alone, there had been at least sixty or seventy different vineyard names; this was reduced to four. There were also many more changes in the law.

Many German wines, like most French wine, are produced from unripe grapes by adding sugar. In Germany, these are called Tafelwein, Landwein, or Qualitätswein b.A.
The best German wines, however, are made from fully ripe grapes, and these wines and these wines alone, are entitled to be labelled 'Qualitätswein mit Prädikat', which literally means 'Quality wine with special distinction'. These wines are never sugared; it is a criminal offence to do so, and a number of German wine-makers have spent time in prison for trying it. It is therefore easy to identify a German wine made from fully ripe grapes, something which is impossible with French, Italian, or Spanish wine. In fact the latest update to the German wine law has seen the term 'Qualitätswein mit Prädikat' shortened to just 'Prädikatswein', starting with the 2007 vintage.
There are five grades or 'special distinctions', each of which correspond to different ripeness levels, and all have precise minimum ripeness levels laid down in law. It is common practice for winegrowers to send the pickers through the vines three, four, or even more times in a single harvest in order to pick grapes that acheive the various levels of ripeness.

The first is Kabinett, which is made from normally ripe grapes. It's usually fairly light with good acidity. The term originally meant that the wine was considered good enough for the wine-maker's own wine cabinet, and before the 1971 wine law was used at the winemakers discretion, and was often attached to Spätlese or Auslese wines (see below), but since 1971 is used as a stand-alone definition, with precise minimum legal standards.

The second is called Spätlese (pronounced 'Schpayt-lazer') which literally means 'Late-Harvest', and is made from grapes that have been left on the vine, at the growers' own risk, to benefit from an extra two weeks or more of late autumn sunshine. It is somewhat sweeter, richer, and finer, often with slightly lower and softer acidity, and not surprisingly fetches higher prices.

The next grade is Auslese (pronounced 'Ows-lazer') or 'Selective Harvest'. The ripest bunches - or those with above normal levels of Noble Rot - are selected as they are picked and pressed, and are made into a separate wine. This wine is again richer, sweeter, often with lower acidity, and again fetches a higher price.

The final two 'special distinctions' are Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, and the names literally describe how they are made, grape by grape (berry by berry). They are both made from individually selected grapes picked with a pair of tiny scissors or a needle, the grapes being either very over-ripe indeed or especially affected by the Noble Rot, which dries the grapes almost to raisins (the word 'trocken' means dry or dried). Heavily botrytised grapes like this seem at first sight to be anything but attractive, but from these grapes are made the most expensive white wines in the world. Given the massively labour-intensive way in which these wines are made - several winemakers have told me that it is tedious in the extreme - and the fact that they are produced in tiny quantities, they can never be cheap, yet their production is often more a matter of pride in their art than profit.

There is one more designation, which can only be used on wine made from grapes of at least Beerenauslese ripeness: Eiswein. Again the name is both accurate and descriptive, for it means 'Ice-wine', and it is made from grapes that have been left on the vine until December, January, or even February, and have been caught by a sharp frost of -8 C or lower, and are picked and pressed while frozen solid, usually in the the very early morning (click here to see a picture). The ice, which is water, is thrown away, leaving the sugar, acidity, and all the elements that give the wine it's flavour in super-concentrated form. Eiswein is fabulously concentrated, yet often retains enough acidity to stay balanced, without the syrupy sweetness that many Beerenauslese or Trockenbeerenauslese have. I am a fan of Eiswein, and for me this is the finest wine in the world. It's perhaps worth pointing out that the use of freezers and other techniques such as reverse osmosis have been banned, and that only naturally frozen grapes are allowed. Eiswein is fabulous, and if you haven't already tried it, I strongly recommend you do so soon. For me, Eiswein comes closest to what Robert Louis Stevenson called 'bottled poetry'.

Despite the fact that minimum standards for all the various grades are laid down in law, many of the better winemakers like to go a bit further, and you will often find that a spätlese from one winemaker will be as good as, or even better than, an auslese from many other winemakers.

In addition to these officially sanctioned ripeness levels - often incorrectly thought of as quality levels - many winemakers use a variety of means to identify wines that are supposedly better than others of the same grade. This can be a gold capsule, sometimes of differing lengths, a number of stars added, or a whole array of colours and stripes on the capsule. It is common to find short and long gold-capsule auslese wines (note, however, that some winemakers use gold capsules for all their better wines), or wines with no stars or up to five stars (most winemakers only use three stars as a maximum, however), usually appended to the prädikat, such as '***Auslese***'., or '**Eiswein**'. Theoretically this was made illegal by the 1971 German wine law which specifically banned 'graphic design elements' from distinguishing between different sub-grades, but the practice is still widespread. Phrases such as Feine (or Feinste) Auslese or Bestes Fass (best cask), have, however, disappeared. Some winemakers also refer to Fass No. 37, or whatever. Since casks on the Mosel are usually just 1000 litres, the availability of each one is severely limited.

Finally, the labels. Thirty years ago, most German wine labels were printed in what is often incorrectly called 'gothic' typefaces. Technically known as 'Blackletter', these fonts resemble the very first fonts used by Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of printing, and who was born in Mainz, in the heart of the Rhine wine regions. Whatever virtues these fonts have, easy legibility is not one of them, and it can take quite a while for an unpractised eye to simply recognise the letters, let alone decipher what the words mean. This is now largely gone, as almost all German wine labels are now printed in highly legible modern typefaces. So, now that we can all read the labels, what do they actually tell us?
The four most important bits of information on German wine labels are the year the grapes were grown in (this is not compulsory); the name of the producer, which may be anything from a village winemaker to a count, cathedral, grammar school, or a hospital (do not assume that the village winemaker will be any less good than the others...); the region where the wine was grown, which may be stated with extreme accuracy, or may not; and the level of ripeness the grapes had when picked. The grape variety may be given, but is not compulsory. This may be a blend of two different varieties, but the label may not give more than two, and if two varieties are given they must be in more or less equal amounts. Personally, I rarely drink any wine other than Riesling. If the wine is a Quälitatswein mit Prädikat this will be stated, along with the individual Prädikat.
The label will give the geographical origin of the wine, but this may be a large region such as Bereich Nierstein or Bereich Bernkastel (the word Bereich means region), or an individual vineyard such as Niesteiner Glöck or Bernkasteler Graben. Note, however, that a few vineyards and castles are more famous than the towns or villages in which they are situated, and some of these omit the village name. Thus we have 'Scharzhofberger', from the Scharzhofberg vineyard in Wiltingen on the Saar, and Schloss Vollrads, which is in the village of Winkel in the Rheingau, and the Steinberg, which is on the outskirts of Hattenheim, again in the Rheingau. None of these wines give the name of the village.
One concept that muddies the waters somewhat is the 'Grosslage', which is a collective name for a group of vineyards, and which uses the name of the most famous town or village of any vineyard within it. The vineyards of Nierstein, for example, have been divided into four grosslagen, which are Niersteiner Rehbach, Auflangen, Speigelberg, and Gutes Domtal. Only one Nierstein vineyard is in the Gutes Domtal grosslage, together with vineyards in many other villages, but wine from any of these villages is allowed to use the prestgious name of Nierstein, which is rightly highly respected, but not for the wine of this grosslage! It would be wrong, however, to think that all wine sold under a grosslage name is inferior, as this is simply not true. Bernkasteler Badstube is a grosslage name that is extensively used by many growers, where they would otherwise have to market many different wines in tiny quantities. It consists of just the six best vineyards of Bernkastel, and is likely to be as good as almost any wine from that famous little village. How can you tell if a name is a grosslage or an einzellage (an individual vineyard)? You can't, except by learning the names. Since every wine shop in Britain sells Niersteiner Gutes Domtal and Piesporter Michelsberg, very little of which actually originates from either Nierstein or Piesport, it's safe to assume that these are not fine wines, and since there are only six grosslagen in the best part of the middle Mosel, it isn't too hard. I have listed the most common here, together with grosslage names in the Rheingau, and there are a number of books you can buy for further information.