🏷️ Czech and Slovak predicate wines

Czech and Slovak predicate wines are a Czech and Slovak system that grades wine by grape ripeness, from cabinet to ice wine and straw wine. Czech and Slovak predicate wines are a system that grades wine by how ripe the grapes were at harvest. The more sugar in the berries, the higher the level. The lowest are Kabinett and late harvest; above them come selected berries, selected bunches, selected raisined berries, and also ice wine and straw wine.

The system came from the German-speaking world, where such wines are called Prädikatswein. Czechia and Slovakia wrote it into their own rules. Predicate wines belong to the top quality category, with a protected designation of origin (PDO). Next to it stands the Czech VOC category, which also asks for local character in the wine.

Ice wine is made from grapes frozen on the vine. Straw wine is made from berries dried on straw. Both styles are sweet and rare, and usually sold in small bottles. You can read the level on the label, which shows the level name and the vintage. Such bottles are most often sweet and cost more than ordinary wine.