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Trocken
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trocken is the German word for dry. It is used on German wine labels to indicate those which are dry rather than off-dry (halbtrocken), sweeter (lieblich) or sweet (süß). Technically trocken wines are not completely devoid of residual sugar, but have at most a few grams per liter, a level which can be perceptible but is not overtly sweet.
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 has typically been one of sweeter low alcohol wines. Only since about 1990 has dry, trocken wine become popular, partly as it tends to go better with food. Most German wine that is exported is still of the sweeter styles.
While it appears in the term trockenbeerenauslese, trocken in that case refers to the dried grapes, not the dryness of the resulting wine.