Many a baby boomer's first experience with wine was a glass of Blue Nun or Black Tower, and initially, they might not have known they were drinking a German wine. Their popular counterparts bearing authentic German appellations, such as Piesporter Michelsberg, Zeller Schwarze Katze and Niersteiner Gutes Domtal, were packaged to emphasize their Teutonic origin - replete with Gothic script, coats of arms and pictures of smiling, buxom, dirndl-clad girls or castles overlooking steep, riverside vineyards.

A grape variety was seldom named on the label. With these brands and generic wines - pleasantly sweet and served chilled - generations made the transition from cola and sweetened iced tea to wine. These are the wines that shaped the popular image of German wine abroad from the 1960s onward.

That is but one side of the story.

Less widespread, but parallel to the above scenario, is the story of Germany's superb, quality-driven winemakers, who for generations have striven to produce highly individualistic wines that reflect the best of varietal and vineyard (terroir) character. Since production is often small, many of these wines have only been available in limited quantities in export markets. Yet, they have always found a niche among specialist importers and wine connoisseurs.

Indeed, one hundred years ago, Rheingau Rieslings fetched higher prices than their prestigious Bordeaux counterparts at London's renowned wine merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd. To this day, top German Rieslings continue to achieve world-record prices at auctions.

So much for history.

Today, we consume more salsa than ketchup and wine is no longer an exotic beverage at the dining table - even in America's Bible belt. Tastes change. So have German wines. Inside and out. The German Wine Institute's slogan - " You think you know German wine, drink again." - is good advice. Now's your chance to discover the meaning of "Life after Liebfraumilch" or understand what the "Riesling Renaissance" is all about - at the source.

Since most of Germany's 13 wine-growing regions are within an hour or two of Frankfurt, it's easy to become acquainted with the people and places behind some of the world's greatest wines. Today's German wines - sleek, dry varietals, such as "Classic," and "Gutsweine" (an estate's house wines) in modern packaging with a minimum of nomenclature - are hot items on the shelves and wine lists of shops and restaurants.

The Key to the "System"

German wine labels have long been criticized as being confusing or cryptic, and the German predilection for compound words doesn't help. To cope with the latter, merely chop long words into their components. Of course, you have to know what the components mean - but all in all, you need only to master the dozen or so terms explained below. It's that simple!

Certain information on the label is required by law, e.g. region, name of the producer and ripeness. Other information, including grape variety, vintage and style (dry or off-dry), can be mentioned if specific criteria are met. Unfortunately, there is no prescribed order as to where this information appears on the label - it's there, but not always in the same place on every label.

Most important, though, is to recognize the distinction between terms that refer to what happens in the vineyard (determined by Mother Nature) and terms that refer to what happens in the cellar (determined by the winemaker), i.e. the difference between ripeness and style.

Ripeness: Mother Nature's Domain

Quality-oriented German winegrowers practice selective harvesting. Rather than harvesting the entire crop at one time, they make several rounds through the vineyards and pick grapes at various stages of ripeness. Given Germany's unpredictable weather, it is quite a risk to leave grapes on the vine until they are very ripe or even overripe in October or November. Yet, riper grapes yield wines with more aroma, flavor and concentration.

The following terms indicate how ripe the grapes were when picked during the "Lese" (harvest) - NOT the sweetness level of the resultant wines:

Qualitätswein b.A. (QbA) - normally ripe grapes; the "b.A." means the grapes are from one of the 13 German wine-growing regions, and the name of the specific region is on the label.
Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP) - riper, ripest and overripe grapes; a "Prädikat" is merely an adjective to describe the degree of ripeness. There are six levels:

• Kabinett - fully ripened grapes; elegant, light wines.
• Spätlese - (literally, late harvest) fully ripened grapes; fuller-bodied wines that reflect the intensity of riper fruit.
• Auslese - (selective harvest, bunch by bunch) very ripe grapes; wines with more depth and concentration.
• Beerenauslese - (selective harvest, berry by berry) overripe grapes; rich, noble dessert wines. Abbreviated: BA.
• Eiswein - (ice wine) overripe grapes harvested while frozen; rich, noble dessert wines with a remarkable concentration of fruity acidity and sweetness. No frost (-8°C/17.6°F), no ice wine.
• Trockenbeerenauslese - (selective harvest, dried-up berries); liqueur-like dessert wines. It takes one person about seven hours to harvest enough shriveled berries to make one bottle of this rarity. Abbreviated: TBA.

Style: Cellar Techniques

The riper the grapes, the higher their natural sugar content - sugar that fuels yeast performance during fermentation, when it is converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. If the yeast converts all the sugar in the juice, the resultant wine is bone dry, i.e. there is no residual sugar left in the wine, but usually more alcohol.

When the yeast is satiated, it literally "drops dead" and falls to the bottom of the cask (forming the lees). Any natural sugar left over in the juice (as in the super-rich juice of BA, Eiswein and TBA) is not fermented, and the resultant wine has residual sugar and often low alcohol content. The winemaker can control yeast performance to some degree. Fermentation stops when wine is separated from the yeast (racked).

Here, too, a certain amount of natural fruity sweetness can remain in the wine. Thus, a winemaker can determine style: he or she decides whether to produce a naturally fruity Spätlese or Auslese - or a dry or off-dry version. If the words "trocken" (dry) or "halbtrocken" (off-dry) are not on the label, expect a wine with some residual sweetness.

New Terminology

A crop of new categories has recently entered the field. The use of vineyard site names is reserved for the premium segment. The new categories are meant to indicate a dry taste profile, without using the terms "trocken" or "halbtrocken," as well as point to wines produced from especially high-quality grapes - a combination to cover ripeness and style.

Here are the new terms you'll see:

Classic: dry, regional varietals made exclusively from a traditional grape variety, primarily Riesling, Silvaner and the Pinot family (Weissburgunder/Pinot Blanc; Grauburgunder/Pinot Gris; Spätburgunder/Pinot Noir). No vineyard site is named.

Selection: the premium version of Classic, with a minimum ripeness level of Auslese and labeled with a vineyard site name.

Grosses Gewächs (great growth): comparable with Selection. This is the term that member estates of the prestigious VDP (Verband deutscher Prädikatsweingüter, or Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates) have opted for to denote their finest dry wines labeled with a vineyard site. In the Rheingau (only), the term is "Erstes Gewächs" (first growth).

Celebrate with German Wine

Part of the pleasure of living in Frankfurt and the Rhein-Main region is the proximity to so many wine-growing regions. Where there's good wine, there's good food, and both are celebrated at dozens of festivals and cultural events throughout the year. Check out the websites of the German Wine Institute in Mainz (www.germanwines.de) and the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates (www.vdp.de) for calendars of events.