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Trockenbeerenauslese

vendange sélectionée de baies avec pourriture noble (F)
selected harvest of dried berries (GB)

A term (also abbreviated to TBA) for a sweet wine made from overripe, raisin-like dried and mostly, but not exclusively, noble rotten berries with a characteristic taste or aroma of nuts, honey and caramel and a golden yellow to amber colour. However, such wines cannot be produced on schedule every year, as certain climatic conditions are an absolute prerequisite. The most important criterion is that the grapes (usually only white wine varieties, but occasionally also red wine varieties) are attacked by the Botrytis mould during ripening and noble rot develops. This creates tiny pores in the berry skin, causing the water to evaporate very slowly and concentrating the berries' ingredients enormously. An extremely high sugar content or must weight of up to 300 °Oe (60 °KMW) can be achieved (see a list of all ingredients under total extract).

Trockenbeerenauslese - getrocknete Beeren in der Hand / Weintraube am Stock

Wine law regulations

The grapes are harvested extremely late, which is of course a risk. During the harvest, the berries are often painstakingly picked individually by hand or selected from the grapes. The result is noble sweet wines, as is (partly) the case with Auslese, Ausbruch and Beerenauslese. However, these three differ in the condition of the berries used and the vinification. There are different wine law regulations in the individual countries to allow a wine to be labelled Trockenbeerenauslese. The criteria are usually a minimum quantity of must weight and the condition of the grapes. In Germany and Austria, Trockenbeerenauslese is a special type of wine within the Prädikat wine category. The specific production conditions are described under these country keywords.

Suitable grape varieties

Late-ripening grape varieties are particularly suitable for this (see ripening time with a list of these varieties). In Germany, Riesling and Scheurebe (in Austria Sämling 88), Welschriesling, but also cuvées, and in Hungary Furmint, which is used for Tokaj, among other things, are often used for this purpose. Trockenbeerenauslese wines belong to the sweet wine or dessert wine category. A dry version would be theoretically possible, but a paradox. These wines generally contain a very high proportion of unfermented residual sugar; the alcohol content is therefore often less than 10% vol. and can be as low as 6% vol. in extreme cases. Ideally, they are characterised by a high level of acidity and an extremely long shelf life of up to several decades. They are usually bottled in small bottle formats such as 0.375 litre bottles.

Invention of the Trockenbeerenauslese

The phenomenon of late harvesting was recognised and used in southern countries even before our era. For example, the Roman historian Tacitus (55-120) reports in his annals of a wine from Carthage made from dried grapes. And Pliny the Elder (23-79) writes that the Vocontians, a tribe living between Marseille and Lyon in modern-day France, produced artificial dried grape selections. Grapes were twisted at the stem or cut into the pith so that the grapes dried out. The famous Opimianer (see under Falerner) was probably also a wine made from dried grapes. In these cases, however, the grapes were not necessarily always exclusively noble rotten grapes. In Italy, wines made from dried grapes are known as Passito or Recioto).

There are several legendary tales about the "invention" of this type of wine, but it was probably a pure coincidence when botrytised grapes harvested very late were processed. In the case of Hungarian Tokay, this goes back to an event in 1650. In the German wine-growing region of Rheingau, the story of the famous late-harvest wine from 1775 bears witness to this, as does the legendary French vineyard Château d'Yquem in 1847. Another documentary reference dates back to 1526 in Austria, where Luther wine was pressed in the Burgenland municipality of Donnerskirchen, which was allegedly still drinkable over 300 years later. There is documentary evidence of Trockenbeerenauslese wines from the Rheingau from the outstanding 1921 vintage.

Further information

For the production of alcoholic beverages, see Champagne (sparkling wines), distillation (distillates), spirits (types), winemaking (wines and wine types) and wine law (wine law issues). All work and aids in the vineyard during the vegetation cycle are listed under vineyard care.

Picture left: © DWI (German Wine Institute)
Image on the right: by Walliswine - own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Dr. Christa Hanten

For my many years of work as an editor with a wine and culinary focus, I always like to inform myself about special questions at Wine lexicon. Spontaneous reading and following links often leads to exciting discoveries in the wide world of wine.

Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien

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