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''Trocken'', German for ''dry'', is a classification of German wine that indicates a wine that is dry rather than off-dry (''halbtrocken''), sweeter (''lieblich'') or sweet (''süß''). ''Trocken'' wines are not devoid of
residual sugar The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, while ...
, but have, at most, a few grams per liter, which can be perceptible but is not overtly sweet. ''Trocken'' is also a designation for
Austrian wine Austrian wines are mostly dry white wines (often made from the Grüner Veltliner grape), though some sweeter white wines (such as dessert wines made around the Neusiedler See) are also produced. About 30% of the wines are red, made from Blau ...
, but more rarely used there than in Germany, since many quality categories of Austrian wines are dry by default. Somewhat confusingly, for ''
Sekt Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...
'' and other
sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne reg ...
s, ''trocken'' indicates a higher level of sugar than it does for non-sparkling wines. A ''Sekt trocken'' is best described as off-dry or semi-sweet, while a ''Sekt brut'' is completely dry.


Requirements

The maximum amount of
sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
allowed for a ''trocken'' designation depends on the level of
acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a s ...
in the wine. For wine low in acid, a maximum of sugar is allowed. If the acid level exceeds , the sugar may exceed the acid level by 2 grams per liter, up to a maximum sugar content of .Deutsches Weininstitut: Sparkling wine (Sekt)
, accessed on March 25, 2009
Most high-quality German white wines have a high enough acidity to be allowed up to 9 grams per liter of sugar under the ''trocken'' level. When used, the requirements in Austria are exactly the same.
, accessed on March 25, 2009


Sparkling wines

When used for sparkling wine, the term ''trocken'' means a sugar content of . This parallels the term ''sec'' ("dry") in French, which indicates a sparkling wine of the same sugar level as ''trocken''. Drier wines are designated ''extra trocken'' at , while completely dry sparkling wines are given the designation ''brut'' (0–15 g/L) or ''extra brut'' (0–6 g/L).


Background

Until the invention of sterile filtration, most German wines were dry. Fermentation continued until all the sugar was consumed, leaving only miscellaneous unfermentable sugars. Only the occasional sweet rarity, made from extremely ripe grapes, kept any residual sugar. For most of the twentieth century, the style was typically sweeter low-alcohol wines. Only since about 1990 has ''trocken'' wine become popular, partly because many prefer it with food. Most exported German wine is still of the sweeter styles. While it appears in the term ''
trockenbeerenauslese ''Trockenbeerenauslese'' (literal meaning: 'dried berry selection') is a German language wine term for a medium to full body dessert wine. ''Trockenbeerenauslese'' is the highest in sugar content in the ''Prädikatswein'' category of the Austria ...
'', ''trocken'' in that case refers to the dried grapes, not the dryness of the resulting wine.


References

{{German wine German wine Wine classification German words and phrases