Riesling is one of the grapes that best conveys the character of where it is grown. Hardy and cold-resistant, it thrives in cool vineyards, and Germany is the country most associated with it, where it makes both dry and sweet wines.
Acidity as a backbone
When ripe, its grapes turn golden yellow, and its wines range from pale yellow to deep gold. Its signature is bright acidity: it gives the wine structure, balances the sugar in the sweetest cuvées and lets some Rieslings age for decades.
Young, it suggests citrus, peach, apricot and white flowers, with marked minerality. With age comes a very particular note, often described as petrol or kerosene, that enthusiasts look for in old Rieslings.
Did you know? Riesling is behind some of Alsace’s late-harvest and noble-rot wines, as well as remarkable Canadian, German and Austrian icewines.
In Germany
In Germany, Riesling is rarely blended and almost never aged in new oak. Quality wines are classified by the ripeness of the grapes at harvest, in the Prädikatswein category: from least to most ripe, Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein and Trockenbeerenauslese. The terms trocken (dry) and halbtrocken (off-dry) indicate the style. It is grown in all 13 of the country’s wine regions, especially the Mosel, Rheinhessen, Pfalz, Rheingau and Nahe.
In Alsace
Across the Rhine, Alsace makes a French version, usually drier and slightly higher in alcohol than German Rieslings. Vendanges Tardives (VT) and Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN) on the label mean a sweet wine.
Elsewhere in the world
Austria makes excellent ones, generally dry and full, though Grüner Veltliner remains its main white grape. In Australia, the Clare and Eden Valleys give dry Rieslings with lime, white-flower and stony notes. In North America it does well in Oregon, Washington State, the Finger Lakes and Michigan, and it is widespread in Ontario, where it makes wines from dry to sweet, as well as icewine.
Synonyms
Johannisberg Riesling, Rhine Riesling, Riesling Renano, Rheinriesling.
The glass
A glass with a slender bowl that guides the wine to the tip of the tongue highlights the fruit and balances Riesling’s acidity: the Riedel Performance Riesling glass.
