Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [96]
Balance German Rieslings have a major edge over the popular white wines, and this is it. Though they may be fruity or have a touch of sweetness, thanks to the Riesling grape itself and the cool growing region, German Rieslings have incredible balance and vibrancy due to their acidity. It balances the fruitiness and sweetness, making the wine refreshing, complex, and great for food. The wines are not oaky, either.
Labels They have changed, thank goodness. Yes, there are still busy labels with illegible gothic script and inscrutable multisyllabic names. I am not being critical of this tradition, but I do have a practical concern: Non-German speakers do not know how to confidently choose these wines. Happily, some of the greatest German winemakers realized this and have simplified their labels in two ways. First, many use cleaner lettering and simpler designs, so that it is easy to find the important things on the label, like the grape and winery name. Second, a lot of wineries are now leaving off the vineyard source and instead simply labeling their wine as “Estate Riesling.” This can help a lot, because the vineyard labeling is usually where the very long, confusing words come in.
All of these changes make it easier than ever to buy German Riesling. Here is what to look for on the labels for day-to-day drinking:
Riesling If the label doesn’t specifically list the Riesling grape, the wine is probably a blend of cheaper white grapes, and not really worth your time.
Kabinett or Spätlese (Kab-uh-NETT, SPATE-lay-zuh) These terms refer to how ripe the grapes were at harvest, and roughly equate to body of the wine, with Kabinett being the lighter of the two.
Halbtrocken Off-dry, and you may see it combined with either Kabinett or Spätlese.
Trocken Completely dry. Again, may be combined with Kabinett or Spätlese.
Vintage You have a wealth of riches from which to choose, because Germany, in spite of its marginal climate, hasn’t seen a really bad vintage in years, and many recent years have been great.
Region name The best German regions for the Riesling grape are all named for the rivers that flow through them:
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (MOE-zul Zahr ROO-ver) The Saar and Ruwer rivers are both tributaries of the Mosel, which is the main river in this region. This region is called Mosel, for short.
Nahe (NAH-huh) Named for the Nahe River.
These regions are all named for the Rhine River:
Rheingau (RINE-gau)
Pfalz (FAULTS) Formerly called Rheinpfalz
Rheinhessen (RINE-hess-en)
Vineyard names This is where it gets tricky. Usually the vineyard name follows a town name, as in: Piesporter (town name) Goldtropfchen (vineyard name). The town name of Piesport has “er” to signal “from” in much the same way that if you are from New York, you are a New Yorker. Sometimes you see this after the vintage, as in 2002er. This just means from 2002—no big deal. When the vineyard names get confusing, the “who’s who” importer and producer lists below are a reliable fall-back.
And here are the label terms you will find on the dessert styles:
Auslese (OUSE-lay-zuh) Aus means out, lese means picked, referring to the fact that overripe clusters are isolated from the rest of the crop for this wine. This is the first ripeness level that might be considered dessert-style, although I still think many auslese wines are appropriate for savory dishes, and not at all too sweet.
Eiswein (ICE-vine) This is made from grapes that are harvested and pressed while frozen. The water stays behind in the press as ice pellets, making for a very sweet, flavorful, concentrated wine. Very little is made, because leaving fruit on the vine until a hard frost is risky—usually rain comes and rots the grapes before the weather gets cold enough to make eiswein.