Wine on Wednesday: Riesling

Welcome to this Week’s Installment of Wine on Wednesday!

This Week’s Focus: Riesling

Riesling is arguably one of the most versatile white wines on the market, because it can be produced in dry and sweet variations and ranging from light to full bodied. Riesling wine originated in Germany’s Rhein and Mosel river valleys, and German Rieslings are categorized based on their level of dryness and the grape’s ripeness level at harvest and may be referred to as Kabinett, Spatlese, or Auslese, .

Fruit notes you may find in Riesling include apple, peach and pear, or even citrus and tropical nuances. Other flavor notes may include floral undertones, honey, spice, or even mineral undertones such as slate or limestone! As before mentioned, Riesling can be sweet and light bodied or dry and medium-full bodied depending on the winemaker. If you prefer a drier style of Riesling, look for words on German wine labels that include Trocken (“dry” in German) or Halbtrocken (“half-dry” in German).

Given the versatility of Riesling, it can be a great wine for food pairing. Riesling pairs well with pork, poultry, seafood, and even spicy foods like Mexican, Asian or Thai food. Sweeter Riesling wines can pair well desserts as well.

Now that we’ve learned a little more about Riesling, could this be a good wine choice for you? Riesling really allows for a lot of choice in sweetness and acidity because of the variety of styles available. The challenge with Riesling can be finding one that you like because there isn’t really a standard flavor profile for this wine. If you’re looking to try Riesling, you may need to try a few different winemakers to find one you really like.

Here are a Few Popular Riesling Winemakers:

Chateau St Michelle

Hugel

Trimbach