In the month of October, Americans tend to turn German in much the same way they become Mexican on May 5 or Irish on March 17. I’m not sure if Americans tend to associate more with these three cultures or if they tend to gravitate toward the central factor, alcohol. Regardless, Octoberfest is upon us, alcohol is on our brain and this opens up the opportunity to discuss German wine.

Germany is home to 13 wine producing regions with a history dating back 2,000 years. The northerly climate of the German wine regions force wines to be produced around rivers, mainly the Rhine and its tributaries, sheltered by mountains that moderate the temperature.

Germany produces wines in many styles, but dry to sweet white wines tend to be predominate. Their distinctive characteristic is a high level of acidity. Famous German varietals include Gewürztraminer and Liebfraumilch. Müller-Thurgau is probably the most prominent of all the German varietals that you may not have heard of. But, by far, Riesling is the number one German wine in the world.

Expect a Riesling to be sweet unless you see the following words on the label: “trocken” completely dry; “halbtrocken” off-dry; or “ana yea” slight touch of sweetness but remaining dry to taste.

German wine is divided into two types. Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) - “quality wine of a designated region” and produced from grape varieties that have been approved and have reached allowed levels of ripeness. Prädikatswein is the top level of German wines. Translated, it means "quality wine with specific attributes."

The following designations are used in order of increasing sugar in the must (freshly pressed fruit juice that contains the skins, seeds and stems of the fruit):

• Kabinett (cabinet) is essentially the German version of the wine term Reserve.

• Spätlese (late harvest) is the lightest of the late harvest wines and the grapes are picked at least seven days after normal harvest.

• Auslese (selected harvest) are hand-picked from selected very ripe bunches in late November-early December.

• Beerenauslese (selected harvest of berries) are usually made from grapes affected by noble rot.

• Eiswein (ice wine) made from grapes that have been naturally frozen on the vine, making a very concentrated wine.

• Trockenbeerenauslese (select dry berry harvest) made from selected grapes dried on the vine.

The last three make for fabulous dessert wines.