Weingut Dr. Ernesto Franz Cuvee Trockenbeerenauslese 1999 375ml

Weingut Dr. Ernesto Franz Cuvee Trockenbeerenauslese 1999 375ml

“Weingut” is a German term that translates to “winery” or “vineyard”. It refers to a winery or vineyard, encompassing both the land where grapes are grown and the building where wine is produced. The term is used in various German-speaking regions, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, to describe wine producers. 

Cuvée on wine labels generally denotes wine of a specific blend or batch. Since the term cuvée for this purpose is unregulated, and most wines have been stored in a vat or tank at some stage of production, the presence of the word cuvée on a label of an arbitrary producer is no guarantee of superior quality. However, discerning producers who market both regular blends and blends they call “cuvée…” usually reserve the word for special blends or selected vats of higher quality—at least in comparison to that producer’s regular wines. Particularly terms like cuvée speciale, or tête de cuvée (the latter especially in Sauternes AOC) are supposed to indicate higher quality. In this context, higher-quality than ordinary cuvées are often referred to as reserve wines, while a cuvée lower in quality than the main one is a second wine.

Trockenbeerenauslese means literally “dry berry selection.” This very sweet dessert wine is made from individually selected shriveled grapes that have the highest sugar levels with flavors concentrated further by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, or noble rot.