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How to use the shelftalker library |
All shelftalkers are designed to work with the color chart below. Cut printouts of shelftalkers or winery profiles to desired size. Shelftalkers used for a single bottle display, may be folded down the middle resulting in a card with the label and the wine description on the front and the "wine information" on the back. Cut and glue or tape back to back. Please feel free to contact us with any suggestions for improvement. |
What is the idea behind the level chart |
| The levels are intended to reflect the perceived sweetness in a wine, which does not depend at all on the ripeness levels (i.e.: Auslese, Spätlese: see ripeness categories chart) but on the actual residual sugar content of the wine itself and its level of acidity. The ripeness categories Auslese, Spätlese, Kabinett etc. are determined by the natural sugar level of the grape juice BEFORE the fermentation and have no connection to the residual sugar level after fermentation, the sweetness in the wine. For years importers and retailers have used these categories to reflect sweetness because only sweeter style wines were imported and it was the only thing on the label usable. The truth is that any wine of these categories, when fermented all the way, can be a bonedry wine, or when some residual sugar is left one has a dry, off-dry or sweeter style wine. This is alone the decision of the winemaker, who will determine when to stop the fermentation. If you look through the offers of your merchant you might even find Auslese trocken or Spätlese trocken, which indicates bonedry wines (trocken = bonedry). Therefore these ripeness categories do not give you any indication of sweetness. To make matters more difficult, for some years now, among the top producers of German wines, declassification is common. Declassification means that the juice harvested might be Auslese ripeness level, but the wine will be marketed as a Kabinett or Spätlese (check http://www.vinonet.com/quality.htm for the ranking). For that matter you might find a really light Kabinett and you can also find a really heavy and big Kabinett making the categories on the label even more meaningless. A few producers have started to just leave these categories off the label making just QbA, even though the wines are made out of Kabinett or Spätlese or Auslese grapes, but there is a problem with the German legal requirements regarding the labels and the Germans themselves (and I am allowed to say this since I am German and a vintner's son). The Germans are standing in their own way by sticking to tradition and buraucracy way to hard. The dryness level chart provides the consumer with an idea what he or she can expect and what to do with the wines: |
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yellow - bonedry: for fish dishes, light flavored dishes with high acidity where you could also use a dry Sauvignon blanc but want more fruit instead of herbaciousness |
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green - dry: ideal multipurpose wine, with light to medium flavored dishes or as a sipping wine |
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blue - off dry: these light wines with some hint of sweetness are great summer sippers; use with vinaigrette salads, lightly spicy dishes and dishes with light cream sauces |
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orange - mildly sweet: rich sipping wine with noticable sweetness, good with spicy food or dishes that have a fruit component (steak with baked banana etc.) |
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purple - noble sweet: rich full sweet wines that can be used for aperitif or dessert (BA, TBA, Eiswein and some Auslese) or less intense verions can be used for rich fruit containing dishes like game with prunes or with fruit tart or fresh fruit. |
| For more detailed information on Food and Wine Pairing check out the German Wine & Food Pairing Guide on the Website of the German Wine Information Bureau. |
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