If you were to make a list of the most underrated wines in America, Riesling would almost always be among the top five. To wine experts, Riesling is versatile, refreshing, and one of the few whites that ages well. To pretty much everyone else, Riesling is a cloying dessert wine that seems to not pair correctly with anything. And both parties are kind of right. The beauty and the terror of Riesling is its “terroir expressiveness.” These grapes really love showcasing the region they are from. Also, they quickly take on sugar, which can make or break not only your night’s pairing but also your general Riesling opinion, as many an American has found out.
So, what to do? First, let’s look at the sweetness piece of the puzzle. Riesling grapes go from under-ripe to full of sugar very quickly. The more sugar in your grape, the sweeter your wine. As the home of Riesling, German vintners craft wines from bone-dry to super-sweet. In America, you’ll see various words on German wine labels, each adding to our general confusion. That confusion has definitely led to the opinion that Rieslings are only sweet dessert wines. If you want drier Riesling, look for the words “trocken,” or “kabinett,” and 12.5% or higher alcohol content. For something a little sweeter, look for “halbtrocken,” “spätlese,” or “auslese” and lower alcohol. Luckily, Rieslings labels from nearly everywhere other than Germany are pretty straightforward.
Riesling is grown in more moderate to cooler climates, the most well known being Germany, Alsace, Australia, and New York’s Finger Lakes. The chill during growing translates into a high acidity, something you’ll find across the board. Germany is where it all began in the 15th century in the Rheingau, a region still very much in the thick of it Riesling-wise (bottles from the Rheingau are regularly found at auctions). Other places of note are vineyards surrounding the Mosel Valley and from the Pfalz region. What’s bottled here can run the gamut from dry to super sweet, but we’ll tackle that next. A few houses to look for are Weingut von Winning, Egon Müller, Toni Jost, and Selbach-Oster.
Move a little northwest and you’ll hit the French Riesling territory: Alsace. Alsatian Riesling tends to be a little drier, highlighting the wine’s notes of citrus, peach, pear, and white flower. Look for bottles from Dopff & Irion, Domaine Weinbach, and Trimbach. Go south of Germany and you’ll find the next “hot” Riesling area: Austria’s Wachau. Riesling from this region is often seen as some of the best in the world (don’t tell the Germans) because it’s seen as having the best climate for the grape. The wines also fall on the drier side with a little less acidity due to slightly warmer days. You’re also able to find great dessert Rieslings made with noble rot aka botrytis, a beneficial fungus that causes the grapes to lose their water content and concentrate their sugars. Weingut Emmerich Kroll, Bründlmayer, and Markus Huber have often come up in conversations as bottles to know and trust.
Out of the Old World, a few spots are arising as top Riesling producers. The Finger Lakes region in upstate New York is one with a great climate for growing the grape and creating various expressions of the wine, from dry to sweet ice wine (where grapes are harvested when frozen). The area’s reputation has been bolstered by the vintages coming from Hermann J. Weimer, Ravines, and Heart & Hands. Vines planted in the 1800s in the Eden, Clare, and Barossa Valleys around Adelaide, Australia took well to the region’s cooler climate. Now, dry and very slightly sweet Rieslings from there are known throughout the world. You’ll want to pick up bottles from Penfolds, Grosset, Pikes, and Peter Lehmann.
For more on Riesling, and how to incorporate it into your Friendsgiving plans, check out November’s Wine Party of the Month!
