Beerenauslese (BA)

Definition - What does Beerenauslese (BA) mean?

Beerenauslese is a wine style under the German classification system which requires a must weight of 110 to 129 on the Oeschle scale. The harvested bunches are also be hand-selected and preferably affected by noble rot. The result are wines with a high amount of residual sugar and a signature honey aroma and taste.

WineFrog explains Beerenauslese (BA)

Beerenauslese falls under the Geographic classification for Prädikat wines. Wine harvests in Germany are spaced out over a few weeks in which the same vineyards are passed through for harvest over and over, hand-selecting grapes for each following harvest. Beerenauslese is the fourth harvest of the year. This is very rare, often into late fall and even winter before the grapes may be harvested. A Beerenauslese harvest may only occur once or twice in a ten year span. In ideal conditions, the grapes will have noble rot, which make for special structured wines with a balance of acidity and residual sugar. These wines are only found in half-bottles and start at around $20 but can go up to over $200.