Riesling Thoughts
I write this with a glass of 2010 Robert Weil Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling trocken on my table. Oh my, good wine is always so thought-provoking. This wine shows a slight sign of aging already but still very fresh and lively. Most impressed is the long and beautiful nutty finish. And I have to say it again, I’m lovin it!
Transparent and Broad
Riesling is widely regarded as the most transparent grape variety. It requires longer ripening period which in turn means that the berries have a lot of time to slowly absorb the soil and the climate, or in a snobby wine terminology, the terroir of a specific site. Riesling is also a grape of many facets. It can be used to produced a wide range of wines, from bone dry to super (noble) sweet and this broad spectrum of taste find its peak in Germany. Here it is typical to find more than ten different styles of Riesling wines from just one winery in one vintage. On the dry-end, the top wines, which are called Grösses Gewaechs, are internationally highly regarded and are demanding increasing price. On the other end, noble sweet german wines are among the most expensive and sought-after wines in the world. Somewhere in between lies fruity off-dry wines likes traditional Kabinett and Spätlese which offer the drinker the superb play between acid and sweetness that cannot be found elsewhere.
Top German producers are crazy about harmony not extraction – above all, the balance between acid, residual sugar, fruit, and alcohol – and this is probably due to their passion for Riesling, a grape that transparently reflects everything that had happened in the vineyard and cellar. So in the cool regions, optimum ripeness is reached while the acidity is still high, more residual sugar is needed to balance the acid out. Great examples are the Mosel wines with its intense flavor, deep mineral note, tingle sweetness and sappy acid; yet at a very low alcohol. If we travel to the warmer regions like the Pfalz or Rheinhessen, the acidity is less pronounced and the wine can be fermented until dry to achieve the desired balance. Here drier and fuller body Rieslings with more intense fruit flavor are common. In specific sites, especially in the valleys filled with fog and mist, where Botrytis Cinerea or noble rot comes into play, the noble sweet wines like Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese are made.
Rather One Sip than Thousand Words
