German

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Riesling Spätlese

Etymology

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From spät (late) +‎ Lese (harvest). Cognate with lesen (to read, select, pick), which yields a high-quality connotation.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈʃpɛːtˌleːzə/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: Spät‧le‧se

Noun

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Spätlese f (genitive Spätlese, plural Spätlesen)

  1. (literally) a late harvest, at the end of or after the normal harvesting season
  2. (metonymically) a (usually white) wine made from grapes which are purposefully harvested very late, so as to be extra sweet

Declension

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See also

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Further reading

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  • Spätlese” in Duden online
  • Spätlese” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache