Trockenbeerenauslese, or TBA, is a German botrytized wine made entirely from the individually selected grapes fully "dried" from Botrytis cinerea, hence the name. Trockenbeerenauslese is a very sweet wine, highest among the wines of the QmP category that includes also Auslese and Beerenauslese.
Botrytized grape cluster
German wine classification
The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented by the German Wine Law of 1971. Nearly all of Germany's vineyards are delineated and registered as one of approximately 2,600 Einzellagen, and the produce from any vineyard can be used to make German wine at any quality level, as long as the must weight of the grapes reaches the designated minimum level. As the current German system does not classify vineyards by quality, the measure of wine ’quality’ is the ripeness of the grapes alone.
The bottle on the left displays: Producer (Dr. Loosen) – vintage – village (Bernkastel) and vineyard (Lay) – variety (Riesling) and Prädikat (Eiswein) – mandatory information in small print – alcoholic strength, region (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) and volume. The bottle on the right uses a slightly different order: Region (Rheingau) and variety (Riesling) – vintage – village (Kiedrich) and vineyard (Gräfenberg) – Prädikat (Auslese) – producer (Weingut Robert Weil) – volume and alcoholic strength.
A Riesling from the Rheingau using the "Feinherb" (off dry) designation
A bottle of Kabinett and a bottle of Kabinett trocken from the same producer and vineyard, showing how the sugar content of the finished wine may be indicated on a German wine label
A bottle of regular Riesling Auslese (left) and a bottle of Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel (Gold capsule) from the same producer
