Michael Kuettner > wrote:

> Do you mean Spaetlese (umlaut) or was that the name of the wine ?
> (For our non German speaking readers : Lese means the harvest of the
> grapes. Spaet (umlaut) means that they are harvested after the first frost.
> That concentrates the fruit sugar and makes for a sweeter wine).

It just means "late harvest" wine, i.e. one made with riper grapes
containing more sugar. How one makes the wine is another matter -
"trocken", i.e. dry (and more alcoholic), Spätlese wines are very common
indeed. Harvesting grapes during (not after) a frost, when the grapes
are actually frozen, is mandatory for making Eiswein, which is probably
what you are thinking of. Eiswein has to be of at least Beerenauslese
quality nowadays, though there was a time when Spätlese sufficed.

Victor