Some German wines are sweet but Germany also produces lots of other wines – including off-dry and bone-dry styles, as well as some very good sparkling and red wines.
In the late 20th century, many German wines were sweet. This included inexpensive and very popular wines with Liebfraumilch on the label. Remember Black Tower and Blue Nun? They are still available if you want to try them. Neither of these were made from riesling, Germany’s great white grape.
There are still some very good off-dry rieslings, usually labelled Kabinett or Spätlese. These don’t actually taste very sweet as they have plenty of refreshing acidity to provide balance. They are usually low in alcohol too. The Mosel region probably produces the best examples; I would urge you to try them. Traditional wines with Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese or Eiswein on the label will usually be sweet.
However, most German wines are now dry, including most of the great historic vineyards. A dry German wine will usually have the word Trocken, German for dry, on the label to indicate that they have little or no residual sugar. They will generally be higher in alcohol, often 12-13%. They are very food-friendly and work well with Asian dishes.
The greatest German white wines are made from the riesling grape. While they are approachable when young, most of them will keep for years too. Germany also produces some very good red wines. Look out for pinot noir, sometimes called spätburgunder; Germany is the second largest producer in the world, and these can be very good. Lastly the Germans love to drink sparkling wine and make plenty of it, usually labelled Sekt.
