Trockenbeerenauslese

Trockenbeerenauslese is an intensely sweet dessert wine style from Germany and Austria, made from individually selected grapes shrivelled by noble rot. Expect apricot, peach and citrus with honey, dried fruit and warming spice, balanced by brilliant acidity. It’s stunning with blue cheese, crème brûlée, cheesecake, fruit tarts and apricot desserts.

Taste:

Huge sweetness, tiny quantities and absolutely no half measures.

Trockenbeerenauslese – usually shortened to TBA – is intensely sweet and concentrated, with a rich, almost syrupy texture. Expect apricot, peach, citrus and tropical fruit alongside honey, marmalade and dried fruit.

Noble rot adds another layer of complexity, bringing flavours of spice, candied fruit and sometimes caramel or nuts as the wine develops.

Despite the extraordinary sugar levels, great TBA retains enough acidity to keep each sip vibrant and balanced rather than simply sweet.

These are wines you sip slowly. Partly because they're intense. Partly because you may have seen the price.

Food Pairings:

Trockenbeerenauslese works brilliantly with rich desserts and salty, powerful cheeses.

Blue cheese is a classic match, particularly Stilton or Roquefort, where the saltiness balances the wine's intense sweetness.

For dessert, try crème brûlée, cheesecake, apricot tart, peach tart, fruit tart, tarte tatin or panna cotta with fruit.

Desserts featuring apricot, peach, citrus, honey or caramel are particularly good matches, echoing flavours commonly found in the wine itself.

Foie gras and pâté can also work beautifully, with the acidity helping balance their richness.

The golden rule with dessert wine is that the wine should be at least as sweet as the food. TBA has absolutely no concerns about meeting the brief.

Similar Wines:

If you enjoy Trockenbeerenauslese, Beerenauslese is the obvious place to explore a slightly less extreme – although still seriously sweet – German or Austrian style.

Sauternes and Tokaji are two legendary noble-rot wines with similarly concentrated fruit, honey and acidity.

Icewine achieves its concentration through naturally frozen grapes rather than noble rot, offering another fascinating route to intensely sweet wine.

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More About Trockenbeerenauslese:

The name Trockenbeerenauslese translates roughly as “dry berry selection”. Confusingly, the finished wine is extremely sweet – trocken refers to the grapes being dried or shrivelled, not to the wine being dry.

The grapes are individually selected at extremely high levels of ripeness and are usually heavily affected by Botrytis cinerea, or noble rot. This shrivels the berries and concentrates their sugar, acidity and flavour.

Yields are incredibly small and suitable conditions don't occur every year, making TBA rare and expensive.

Riesling is particularly famous for the style, although other permitted grapes can be used.

It literally has "dry" in the name and is one of the sweetest wines you can buy.

Wine naming has reached its final boss.