Due to its thick skins that are high in phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, Dornfelder tends to produce deeply colored red wines that can have a soft, rich texture in the mouthfeel.
The wine usually have a fair amount of acidity with some examples showing floral aroma notes.
The overall quality of the wines produced from Dornfelder tend to be dependent on harvest yields with wines produced from lower yields being more likely to have the concentration of fruit needed to complement a period of oak aging that can add more body and complexity to the wine.

Early in its history, German producers would use Dornfelder to make Beaujolais nouveau style wine using carbonic maceration to make a light bodied, fruity wine, sometimes with a bit of residual sugar.
Today, most examples of Dornfelder are fermented dry, though some off-dry examples exist, with flavors of sour cherry and blackberries.
Due to its thick skins that are high in phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, Dornfelder tends to produce deeply colored red wines that can have a soft, rich texture in the mouthfeel. The wine usually have a fair amount of acidity with some examples showing floral aroma notes. The overall quality of the wines produced from Dornfelder tend to be dependent on harvest yields with wines produced from lower yields being more likely to have the concentration of fruit needed to complement a period of oak aging that can add more body and complexity to the wine.
Early in its history, German producers would use Dornfelder to make Beaujolais nouveau style wine using carbonic maceration to make a light bodied, fruity wine, sometimes with a bit of residual sugar. Today, most examples of Dornfelder are fermented dry, though some off-dry examples exist, with flavors of sour cherry and blackberries.
Dornfelder