I'm embarrased to say that I don't know whether it is an indicator of style, sweetness, quality or something else - obviously in association with German Rieslings.

The winemaker wants to separate a lot from the rest, but cannot (by regulations) call it anything more than "Auslese", so changes the color of the cap to differentiate it from the rest and have a different $$$.
He(she), then decides to have a "long gold cap" and charge more(and confuse more) .
Normally (grain of salt) the quality is worth the difference.
Hope that helps.

It's like the way we used the term 'Reserve'. It just means that the producer wants to designate it as being "better".

[Note: In some areas, there are regulations about how long a wine must be aged to be termed 'reserve'. That's not the case here or in Germany vis-a-vis the gold cap]

I assume, therefore, that the GK designation is subject to some abuse, and that it probably means more for some producers than others.

Others who can afford this kind of wine might be able to explain it better from experience, but basically the top German producers (particularly in the Mosel) make a small and special batch of special auslese, beerenauslese [BA] and/or trockenbeerenauslese [TBA]. They use these as "show off" wines, i.e. using the very best grapes from the very best part of the vineyard. Usually no more than thirty cases of these wines are made, often much less.

Normally, they are shown at the annual high end wine auctions. The most famous one is the Grosser Ring held every September for Mosel wines, but there are also similar auctions for the Rheingau and the Nahe. These are prestige events, and the wine prices can get silly (e.g. $2270 for a bottle of Robert Weil 1999 Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Goldkapsel!).

Winemakers usually designate their auction wine by goldkapsel, lange goldkapsel or stars (but not all goldkap wines are auction wines - it is all very winery specific). They should be much higher quality than their normal auslese, BA or TBA.

Some of the most prestigeous auction auslesen generally are:

• Dr. Loosen Erdener Prälat Lange Goldkapsel Auslese
  
  
• Egon MÜller Sharzhofberger Goldkapsel Auslese
  
  
• Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Lange Goldkapsel Auslese
  
  
• Dönnhoff Hermanshöhle Goldkapsel Auslese
  
  
• J.J. Prüm Wehlener Sonnonuhr Lange Goldkapsel Auslese (which I have seen affectionately called the Prüm WSLGKA)
  

That probably explains why I have not seen it on my local retailer's shelves. I probably couldn't afford it anyway.
Thanks for the response.

Bill,

I bumped a thread which explains Goldcaps and all the other minutia of German wine labels that you probably never wanted to know. Here is a link for it as well.

VM

Fuders, Kapsuls, numbers--Now I think I see stars. Ow.

But seriously, Vino Me's post nearly covers it all. One thing I am not really sure about - and maybe Vino Me knows - is whether it ever says on the label that a wine is an Auction Wine (which would be in addition to the goldkap/stars etc) or whether you just have to know. The german word is Versteigerungsweine.

cbmac,

To my knowledge, those bottles do not say anything about being an auction wine on the label but I am not positive about this.

For an explanation of what "auction wines" are, those interested can go to this link.

VM

They often have an auction sticker on the top of the label or on the neck of the bottle.

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Anche dio è di-vino

Exactly, auction wines usually have little stickers on them naming the auction they went through. Sometimes though they do not. In that case you must trace down the AP number as that will be the only difference in labels.
Also, some producers, such as Donnhoff, will put goldcaps on his auslese whether they are GKA or the normal Auslese. Thus you can have a nice little half-bottle of an Auslese from them, as I do, which has a goldcap but it could be an Auselese, a GKA, or a GKA Auction version.
I have some GKA from JJ Prum, 2001 version, but they are not the Auction GKA. Confused yet? If in doubt, call the importer, or read a post from the auction, and get the AP numbers to ensure.
BTW, I do have some GoldKapsul Spatlese also so it is not confined to the Auslese and above.
As for stars, that seems to mirror the GK designation to a degree in indicating quality and may or maynot be an auction wine. I have some *** spatlese which is not auction but some **** Auslese which is. Oh well.