Help understanding "Troken" Wines.

I am a little confused about the word "Troken" as it pertains to the various levels of German wine. I understand that it means "dry" in its simplest of forms but can there be a "Wine X" and a different "Wine X"- that is troken?

More specifically, I recently picked up some Donnnhoff Riesling Spatlese Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg "Troken." Is this the same 95 point Donnnhoff Riesling Spatlese Schlossbockelheimer reviewed by Pierre Rovani in TWA #151?

If it is a different wine, I assume it to be of lesser quality but am not sure why it may be so; and if it is the same wine, is it common for some retailers to use the word "troken" and others to just omit it all together? ...Very confusing.

Any help would be apprecieted.

Thanks, Jason

Reply to
Jaybert41
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In addition to what Cwdjrx said, all good advice, I would add...

In general, yes. Don't know about this specific wine.

I would guess not, but you never know. Maybe the "trocken" got forgotten. As the non-trocken one would be quite sweet, you should be able to tell from the tasting note.

I would assume the quality is pretty much the quality - it is made to the standards of the same producer, and comes frmo the same vineyard. Whether it is actually the case, and whether it is to your taste is another matter.

You didn't mention the vintage BTW. That is also important in defining whether it is the same wine or not. Some vintages vary a lot, and an old wine will taste very different from a young one.

Typically they will state "trocken" if is it. They certainly should, as it has a huge impact on what you are buying. If you order one from a list without "trocken" and you get a trocken wine, you have a good case for getting your money back.

Incidently, similar problems occur with many other wines. For example some producers in France (Beaujolais certainly) offer an "ordinary" cuvee and a "veilles vignes" version, and I suspect the "veilles vignes" bit often gets lost from tasting notes and wine lists. A restaurant local to me offers a very reasonable Ch Margaux, "forgetting" to state that it is their 2nd label.

Reply to
Steve Slatcher
Reply to
Michael Pronay

A while back I found a Weingut Ernst Clusserath Trittenheimer Altarchen Kabinett '98 at a local shop, at $5 US it was a deal so I went to find more- I found an opened but unstocked case and checked the label, same producer vintage vineyard and pradikat level so I bought it. As I was putting it up I happened to notice the word "halbtrocken" at the labels bottom. The alcohol level was 1% higher, but that was all it took to make it too tart for me. I gave the case away to others. I went back to the shop a few months ago and they had more of the reg kab marked down to $2 so I got two cases this time.

Reply to
kenneth mccoy

"kenneth mccoy" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3255.bay.webtv.net...

An amazing price, considering that this is a ranking winery in Trittenheim. The '99 Halbtrocken Kabinett at 10.5% was 5Euro at the winery... (the sweet one at 9%abv was 5Euro too but better reviewed, a very good buy, I'd say). Your '98 may have been much the same. Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

PS Actually, if it's 2002 you have, Zachy's has both the trocken and regular versions at same price, $37.99. Dale

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Reply to
Dale Williams
Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

So within the ripeness levels of Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, etc, there can be distinctions such as Troken and Halbtroken? Is it a futher specification of how sweet the finished wine is regardless of where it falls on the ripeness scale that gives it its pradkit name?

Reply to
Jaybert41

Not a "further" but "the" specification. In Germany, "trocken" means 0 to 9 g/l of residual sugar, "halbtrocken" 9 to 18 g/l in the finished wine. This logically has nothing to do with the pre-fermentation sugar content of the must.

M.

Reply to
Michael Pronay

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sibeer
Reply to
Michael Pronay

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