German wines have long languished in Canadian markets, even though many are among the best in the world. My urgent message to you, dear reader, is that they belong on your table as soon as you can get them there.

These wines partner beautifully with all kinds of dishes, including poultry, which makes the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday a perfect opportunity to drink Germany’s brisk whites and light dry reds with your turkey dinner. A little information will help you find the courage to open your minds, and wallets, and give these wines a fair chance.

For starters, let’s examine a few of the major reasons why German wines suffer several impediments to sales success in Canada. One is that some are distinctly sweet, which makes them unfashionable in North America’s dry-biased wine culture. However, an increasing proportion of German wines are fully dry or off-dry, and those that are sweet carry very high levels of acidity to balance residual sugar and keep such wines from cloying.

Another big problem for today’s wines from Germany is the hangover left by their predecessors. Many of us recall the cheap, acidic stuff that we swilled at university (named after towers and nuns coloured black and blue), mass-produced commercial wines made from indifferent grapes such as Müller-Thurgau. That era is long gone, but the prejudice persists.

A third disincentive for would-be buyers of German bottles is the very labels under which they are offered, which are confusing for folks who don’t speak the language. Names such as “Oppenheimer Krotenbrunnen Oppenheimer Feinste Lang Goldkapsel Auslese” convey a lot of information to Teutonic tipplers but may leave ’em cold in Kapuskasing, especially when printed in old-fashioned Fraktur script.

Official quality classification of German wines has long been based on “must weight,” a measure of the sugar content in the unfermented crushed grapes, which corresponds to ripeness. Confusingly, wines in some categories can be bottled with residual sugar or fermented through to full dryness.

Kabinett wines ($15 to $25) are made from ripe green grapes like those you’d eat. From Mönchof & Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben in the Mosel, Ürziger Würzbergen Kabinett 2008 (89+ points) is an elegant medium sweet wine with pungent minerality and brisk green apple fruit that lingers long.

Fruit for spätlese (late harvest) wines ($30 to $50) are riper with very yellow, freckled skins, almost aromatic with floral and brown spice notes that yield delicate refined subtle wines. Mosel’s Joh. Jos. Prüm—the Bentley of Riesling—offers a medium sweet Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese 2007 (90+ points) with crisp acidity, intense focused pungent minerals, lemon pith, peach and green apple fruit through a long, balanced tasty finish.

Auslese (bunch select) wines ($40 to $80) are made from selected bunches harvested late—usually after November 1 —with extra concentration from raisining or noble rot. St. Urbanshof Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese 2007 (91 points) is made from unbotrytised Mosel fruit. It’s fresh, satiny and rich, medium sweet, tasty and long.

Beerenauslese (“berry select”) wines ($80 to $200) are made from severely raisined, nobly rotten grapes favouring medicinal or spicy-nutty honey and apricot characteristics. The golden nectar Kloster Eberbach Domdechaney Beerenauslese 2008 (94 points) is all powerful honey, apricots and minerals, very sweet with crisp acidity through an endless finish.

Trockenbeerenauslese (dry berry select) wines ($150 to as high as you want to go) are honeyed nectars made from dry nobly rotted berries. Georg Müller Stiftung Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen TBA 2007 (94 points) is deep gold, intense and very sweet with honey, apricot and sweet spice aromas and flavours that somehow float on a magic carpet of crisp acidity.

Eiswein (slightly less expensive than trockenbeerenauslesen) serves up concentrated wines made from frozen berries. Schloss Vollrads Eiswein 2007 (91 points), nearly water-white, has an elegant spicy nose, medium sweetness and delicate fruit.

In recent years, a significant portion of German white wine production has been dry (trocken) and off-dry (halbtrocken and feinherb). The most exalted are made of hand-picked Riesling grapes from superior vineyards identified in 18th century church taxation records and classified as first growths (Erstes Gewächs in the Rheingau) or “grand cru” great growths. These are top-quality bottlings with creamy textures, alcohol levels between 12.5% and 14%, and prices north of $40 in Canada.

From the Rheingau, the celebrated home of rich middleweight Rieslings, Domdechant Werner’sches Hocheim Erstes Gewächs 2006 (90 points) is very concentrated, crisp, just off-dry, suave and delicious with elegant delicate minerality, apple flavours and a concentrated, long, crisp finish. 

The Mosel vineyards are home to Germany’s leanest and most elegant Rieslings—such as producer Selbach Oster’s Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese Halbtrocken 2005 (89 points), a just off-dry wine with delicate focused minerality, fresh to crisp acidity, and grapefruit pith character through a long, rich finish.