On Feb 20, 4:51*pm, DaleW > wrote:
> thanks Anders. "Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach" is the name I was more familiar wine.
> While state-run winery doesn't sound appealing to those of us who have a bias towards small artisanal producers, I've had plenty of delicious wines from Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach, Staatliche Weinbaudomäne Trier, ans Staatlicher Hofkeller Würzburg

All of my German wines are pre-1998, and German wine label
requirements get modified from time to time. For example I have some
1973er Ockfener Bockstein RieslingTrockenbeerenauslese Eiswein,
Vervaltung der Staatlichen Weinbaudomanen Trier, 3 561 107 6 75. The
75 at the end of the number indicates that this wine took quite a
while to be ready to be bottled in 1975. Today the state domain
wording remains the same. However TBA would be forbidden and only
eiswein could be on the label. An eiswein can now be of only BA or TBA
level, but you can not specify which for a specific wine. Ockfener
Bockstein is owned by several.

However, especially in the Rheingau, some large famous vineyards are
entirely owned by the state domain. In this case having a specific
state domain listed on the label adds nothing useful If you want to
buy wine from the named vineyard. For large vineyards, state or
private, there often is considerable difference in quality for wines
produced from grapes in different parts of the vineyard. I would only
buy auslese or above from some of these large vineyards.

For example, Schloss Johannisberg, has two sets of labels and several
capsule color codes to identify the quality of their wines. The lower
quality label shows the Coat of Arms. The higher quality label shows
the Schloss. This system predates modern German wine laws and they can
do it because they do not mention quality levels other than say a
specific such as auslese. The 1976 Rosalack Auslese has a rose colored
capsule and the lower quality coat-of-arms label. It s a very good
auslese, but far from their best wine in 1976. An importer obtained 3
bottles of a much higher quality wine for me directly from Germany.
This 1976 BA has the Schloss label and a gold capsule with light blue-
gray rings at the top and bottom of the capsule.