Wine · Terminology

Prädikatswein

Germany's top quality tier, subdivided by the ripeness of the grapes at harvest — and never chaptalised.

Prädikatswein is the highest quality tier in German (and Austrian) wine law. Its defining rule is simple: the wine may not be chaptalised. All of its alcohol and all of its sweetness must come from sugar the grapes made themselves.

Within the tier, the Prädikat — the "distinction" — is a ladder of six levels set by must weight, measured in degrees Oechsle: how much sugar the juice held at harvest. It is a ripeness scale, not directly a sweetness scale, though in practice the two travel together.

In practice

  • The six Prädikate, in ascending must weight: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein, and Trockenbeerenauslese.
  • Minimum Oechsle levels vary by region and grape — the Mosel's thresholds are lower than Baden's, because ripening is harder there.
  • A Prädikat wine can be dry: a Spätlese trocken is fully fermented, so the ripeness went into alcohol and body instead of sugar.

Where you'll meet it

  • Every serious German label — see the Germany country guide and the Mosel.
  • Austria, which uses the same framework with its own thresholds and no Kabinett as a Prädikat.

The ladder

Prädikat Must weight (Mosel, typical) Usual style
Kabinett 67–73 °Oe Light, often off-dry, low alcohol
Spätlese 76–80 °Oe Riper, fuller, dry to medium
Auslese 83–100 °Oe Rich, often sweet, sometimes botrytised
Beerenauslese (BA) 110–125 °Oe Sweet, botrytis-driven
Eiswein BA level, frozen Sweet, piercing acidity, no botrytis
Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) 150–154 °Oe Intensely sweet, shrivelled berries

The trap on the label

The word trocken means dry, and it can appear alongside any Prädikat. So:

  • Spätlese — late-picked, likely off-dry to medium sweet.
  • Spätlese trocken — the same ripe fruit, fermented dry. Fuller and higher in alcohol, not sweet.
  • Trockenbeerenauslese — nothing to do with trocken as a sweetness term; here it describes the dried (shrivelled) berries, and the wine is among the sweetest made anywhere.

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