Designation Article
Auslese Goldkapsel
Last edited on 5/25/2017 by sweetstuff
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"Goldkapsel" is a gold cap. It is SOMETIMES used as an unofficial, internal quality level mainly for Auslese. There are many exceptions to this rule, and if you want to look foolish exclaim 'ah, a goldkap' wine for an example for which such makes absolutely no difference, as all Ausleses from that estate and vineyard have gold tops. A good example is Dönnhoff.
Auslese Goldkapsel for an estate using this designation is usually richer, sweeter, and more expensive than the ordinary version. Often it is more botrytis-affected too. The term is never mentioned on the label, but the Goldkapsule bottlings are identified by the gold cap only.
Some producers use the gold capsule as a signal of a bottle of superior quality, some not. A gold cap can mean a sweeter or a botrytis affected 'dessert' style wine here, without any claim of superior quality. Good example is Molitor (Mosel), although with recent developments there this may no longer be true.
As a refinement on the above, for some estates there are more than one gold capsule wine in a category, such as Auslese or Eiswein or even Spätlese. When this occurs the only sure means of identification is the AP number appearing on each bottle of quality wine (Qualitätswein) since 1971. Sometimes there are long gold capsule wines (LGK for short), too, which may be difficult to distinguish except if one happens to have a sample of each type of bottle to do a direct comparison. Here too the AP number can help if you have a list of what was put out under what number.
All this happens frequently enough to make it desirable to have a list of every AP number used by every bottler in every vintage year, but as far as I know this is not available, nor is it likely to be anytime soon. Sometimes the producer website can help, and another help is often David Schildknecht when he was reviewing for the Wine Advocate, who tried to list all AP numbers where there is likely to be a need for them. I see that he has continued that policy at Vinous. jht
Auslese Goldkapsel for an estate using this designation is usually richer, sweeter, and more expensive than the ordinary version. Often it is more botrytis-affected too. The term is never mentioned on the label, but the Goldkapsule bottlings are identified by the gold cap only.
Some producers use the gold capsule as a signal of a bottle of superior quality, some not. A gold cap can mean a sweeter or a botrytis affected 'dessert' style wine here, without any claim of superior quality. Good example is Molitor (Mosel), although with recent developments there this may no longer be true.
As a refinement on the above, for some estates there are more than one gold capsule wine in a category, such as Auslese or Eiswein or even Spätlese. When this occurs the only sure means of identification is the AP number appearing on each bottle of quality wine (Qualitätswein) since 1971. Sometimes there are long gold capsule wines (LGK for short), too, which may be difficult to distinguish except if one happens to have a sample of each type of bottle to do a direct comparison. Here too the AP number can help if you have a list of what was put out under what number.
All this happens frequently enough to make it desirable to have a list of every AP number used by every bottler in every vintage year, but as far as I know this is not available, nor is it likely to be anytime soon. Sometimes the producer website can help, and another help is often David Schildknecht when he was reviewing for the Wine Advocate, who tried to list all AP numbers where there is likely to be a need for them. I see that he has continued that policy at Vinous. jht