Riesling is a white wine grape variety that is unfairly maligned. It's expressive, it's complex, and it shows terroir terrifically. The Riesling grape is versatile, and the wines are everything from bone-dry white wines with high acidity to late-harvest noble rot-laden sweet wines. It truly is one of the great wines of the world. The reason many wine drinkers shy away from it is the vocabulary. Is a Kabinett dry or sweet? Do I need to know what Spätlese means? What is trocken, and what the heck is trockenbeerenauslese? These terms are specific, but shouldn't be scary. Head over to our Riesling guide at our Wine School to learn more vocabulary.
What are the best Riesling wines?
The quick breakdown is that Riesling's home is in Germany and Alsace in France. Still, elegant versions can be found in cool-climate wine regions worldwide, from Austria to the Finger Lakes region of New York and even as far as Australia. Maybe the reason that it's so unexplored is that it's tricky to grow well. It's a grape that takes a lot of work and doesn't do well when it's mass-produced. Many new wine drinkers have been taken in by a bad sweet Riesling, but there are dry Rieslings, and there are late-harvest Rieslings that will change your life.
What are the tasting notes of Riesling wine?
Riesling is a grape that can taste of almost anything. From fruit flavors to rocks to gasoline, Riesling (much like Pinot Noir) is influenced by the terroir it was grown in. In well-made examples, minerality is always a component of the wine. It is best unoaked to showcase the fruity flavors when it is young. Notes of orchard fruit like apricot, citrus, smoke, white peach, slate, earth, flowers, and green apple are common in young examples of the wine. The best German Riesling wines come from the Mosel Valley, the Pfalz, and Rheingau, with the late harvest or ice wine dessert wines being the most prestigious. We think that the sweeter Rieslings are perfect for food pairings. The high acidity and sweetness help to dissipate the fiery flavors of Southeast Asian cuisine, and many high-quality restaurants have picked up on this trend and started pairing beautiful German wine with spicy foods.
Want to learn more about Riesling?
Want to learn more about Riesling? Check out Firstleaf’s Ultimate Guide to Riesling.