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I Love German Wine and Food - A Trockenbeerenauslese Dessert Wine

By Levi Reiss

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Published: 01Jul2009
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Perhaps you know that the different classifications of German wine depend largely on the sugar content. Among the wine styles are Spaetlese which literally means a wine coming from late-harvest grapes but in fact means one made from ripe grapes, Auslese which are late-harvest wines, Beerenauslese sweet, botryised (attacked by a "good" fungus) wine made from individually selected grapes, Eiswein made from grapes that froze on the vine, and finally Trockenbeerenauslese, individually selected shriveled grapes with a very high sugar content. I heard about such wines decades ago, but for one reason or another, only started tasting them recently.

I do remember a Parisian friend who thought it quite droll that the Germans would make a wine out of rotted grapes picked individually off the vines, never knowing that the French do as well. I have never tasted a top of the line Sauternes but did taste a second quality one that was boring. As I am writing these lines I see for sale a 1935 Sauternes for well over $400. What luck that the closest bottle is a two-hour drive away.

While Trockenbeerenauslese wine is produced in most German wine regions, in general it represents only about one percent of the total wine production. So these wines are not always available, especially in a relatively moderate price range. They are often sold in half-bottles. Given their sweetness and their thickness, they are wines for sipping. A bit of advice to the youth: If you are going to get drunk, stay away from machinery, cars, boats, and power tools. And don't get drunk or even drink a lot of such sweet wines. You won't enjoy them at the time, and you'll feel really sick afterward.

Unlike the other articles in this series, we are not proposing any sample menu. And we didn't have the heart to try this wine with cheese, whether high quality or not. Actually sweet wines are often paired with cheese - but not here.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed Anselmann Ortega Trockenbeerenauslese 1999 11% alcohol about $28 (half-bottle)

Let's start by quoting the marketing materials. This multi-award winning wine is made from the seldom seen Ortega grape, a cross between Mueller-Thurgau and Siegerrebe. Ortega's full-flavored nature and very bright fruitiness make it a natural for creating dessert wines. Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) is the German designation for totally botrytis-affected wines, similar in style to Bordeaux's Sauternes. The sweet, ripe, soft and very approachable full-bodied wine is an excellent dessert onto itself or serve it with mature cheeses. And now for my review.

Alone the wine was very disappointing, perhaps because decades passed between my first hearing of this wine, and finally tasting it. The first pairing alongside an apple cake with mint chocolate was excellent.

I then tried it with thin biscuits containing sliced almonds and pistachios. The wine had a nice and thick texture. The TBA was quite long and very powerful. A tiny sip filled one's mouth. It was pleasantly sour. This is the sort of wine that you don't want to have every day. I didn't rush the pairings; this wine won't spoil, at least not for a long, long time.

The next pairing was with high-quality chocolate-covered orange peels. The wine had just the right acidity and sweetness, however not very complex flavors. It was not excellent but very pleasurable. Then I went to homemade biscotti with fine apricot preserves. This dessert intensified the TBA's fruit. Another pairing was with a ripe honeydew. The wine was sweet and syrupy, the word luscious came to mind and there were lots and lots of flavors.

Then followed (perhaps weeks later) a homemade orange cake with chocolate and fresh strawberries. The combo intensified the wine's orange flavor or should I say flavors. Another time I went with a really fine chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bar. At first the wine seemed to disappear but it was fairly long. Sweet and sweet went together, and I felt decadent. When the ice cream was gone, the drop or two of wine remaining in the glass was mouth filling. We are almost at the end of the bottle.

With an Almond Raspberry Crostata pie the TBA remained strong and musky; the dominant taste was apricot. The last pairing was with a very lemony French pie whose crust was loaded with butter. Great combo. Citrus and more.

Final verdict. I like this wine, but there are plenty of dessert wines to try and to retry.

Levi Reiss authored or co-authored ten computers and Internet books, but prefers drinking fine German, Italian, or other wine with the right foods and people. He teaches computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His global wine website www.theworldwidewine.com features a weekly review of $10 wines and new sections writing about and tasting organic and kosher wines. Visit his Italian travel website www.travelitalytravel.com.

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