🍷 Feinherb
Also known as: finely dry
An unofficial German word for wine with a light sweetness, slightly sweeter than dry.
Feinherb is a German label term for wine with a light touch of sweetness. It roughly means finely dry. Such wine is a little sweeter than dry but clearly drier than sweet. It appears most often on Riesling from the Mosel, the Rheingau and other German regions.
Feinherb is an unofficial term. German law sets no exact sugar range for it, unlike halbtrocken (off-dry), which has defined limits. So one feinherb wine may be almost dry and another noticeably sweet. For an English-speaking reader used to the dry, off-dry and sweet steps, the word sits somewhere in between and is not a precise figure. Many winemakers prefer it because it sounds gentler than off-dry.
The residual sugar in such Riesling balances its high acidity, so the wine feels harmonious rather than sugary. Feinherb works well with spicy Asian food, pork and cheese. It is one of the German terms for off-dry wines, alongside halbtrocken.
How it connects to Wine
🍷 Feinherb → → → 🍇 Riesling → kind of → 🍇 Grape varieties → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Part of
- 🍷 Medium-dry wine
- Where it is made
- 🗺️ German wine
- Related to
- 🍇 Riesling
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Halbtrocken
Frequently asked questions
Is it true that feinherb and off-dry are the same thing?
Not quite. Off-dry (halbtrocken) is an official term with sugar limits, while feinherb is a looser word, and a feinherb wine may be a little sweeter or drier.
How sweet is a feinherb Riesling?
A little sweeter than dry but clearly drier than sweet. With no fixed figure, one bottle can be almost dry and another noticeably sweet.
Why do German growers write feinherb instead of off-dry?
Many winemakers prefer it because it sounds gentler than off-dry.
Similar
🍷 Halbtrocken · 🍷 Abboccato · 🍷 Trocken · 🍷 Weinschorle · 🍷 Sekt · 🍷 Winzersekt
⚠️ Wine contains alcohol: adults only, drink in moderation. Wine usually contains sulphites; egg white or milk proteins are sometimes used for fining — important for allergies and for vegans.
Sources
- EU Delegated Regulation 2019/33 (labelling, sugar terms)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Wine
- Deutsches Weininstitut