Riesling [Pronunced Reez-ling] is a white wine.
Where it’s from:
- The Riesling has been cultivated in Germany since the 1400’s. More recently we see Rieslings coming out of France, California, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Yugoslavia, and Italy. But the wines of the German, French and California varieties have been the most acclaimed.
- Riesling is also performing exceptionally well in New York’s Finger Lakes region, and Michigan’s northern appellations of Old Mission and Leelanau, as well as in Canada’s Niagara and Okanagan regions, and to some extent in soggy Oregon.
- Australia - Riesling is connected to the German heritage of South Australia’s Barossa Valley, and was for years the most important white variety in Australia, vinified into a wonderfully unique, sturdier style of the wine.
- Riesling is responsible for many of the world’s best dessert wines - Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese in Germany, Vendages Tardives and Selectiones de Grains Nobles in Alsace.
What it tastes like:
- Riesling is powerful with floral undertones and apple-like aroma that frequently mixes in mineral elements from its vineyard source. They are spicy and fruity with a long finish.
- California Rieslings are often dry and oaky, as well as a combination of ripe, developed fruit, coupled with acidity - typical fresh floral traits, but often adds the lushness of peach-like aromas.
- French Rieslings tend to be fuller-bodied, more intensely fruity and dry to the palate.
- In Germany Rieslings are graded in ascending order of sweetness as Auslese, Beerenauuslese, and Trockenbeerenauslese.
What to eat it with:
- Pan-fried trout and grilled or sautéed sausage.
- Appetizers, desserts, pork, poultry or fish.
- Rieslings are able to handle the spice and zest of favored Asian foods.
New terminology:
Terroir – [pronounced teh-RWAHR] – The soil and other geographic factors that might influence the quality of the finished wine. For example, "because of both its cellar longevity and its ability to maintain varietal identity while reflecting the individuality of its terroir, Riesling may be the best of all the white wine grapes".
