International Riesling (that’s reece-ling) Day falls in March, so it’s the perfect time to celebrate the wine trade’s unsung hero and the perennial Tanners staff favourite. From styles to food pairings, Aiden Schwarzer explores this superb variety.
Riesling is much misunderstood. It’s synonymous with Germany, where it makes up about a quarter of all plantings (and accounts for 40% of global production), and it’s made in a huge variety of styles. The Germans have complicated labels and language, which does a good job of explaining those styles and where the wine comes from, but to the uninitiated, it can feel impenetrable. Perhaps I can help a little as we go along?
About the Varietal
Riesling is a hardy varietal that flowers relatively early and ripens late. It thrives in cooler climates that allow for a longer growing season, but a warmer autumn can unlock potential for some very exciting, rare, sweeter wines. Riesling naturally produces very high levels of acidity, pronounced even in the ripest styles and it’s perhaps the variety where discussions about balance (sugar vs acidity) are the clearest to explain and demonstrate. In terms of character, Riesling is a great transmitter of terroir – the soils and surroundings in which it is grown. Dry, off-dry, or sweet, you get a sense of minerality and great freshness. It tends to produce aromatic wines with a floral perfume that can also display complex herbal touches, and fruit notes that range from apples and pears, through citrus, to exotic yellow and orange fruits, soft reds, and even cassis. And much more beyond!
While global warming is quickly changing things, Germany’s classical wine growing regions, which mainly lie in the southwest of the country, fall just within the northernmost band of viable vine growing and winemaking – the old 30°-50° lines of latitude. There are exceptions, and I am aware of the growing winemaking scene in Sweden, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a marginal climate for vines.
In a marginal climate, achieving full ripeness in fruit – in grapes, can be a challenge. If you consider winemaking hundreds of years ago, the best Rieslings were those that could mask or ‘balance’ high levels of acidity with sweetness and, simply put, more ‘fruit’ character.
Germany’s greatest vineyards are, in the main, found on steep slopes above meandering rivers – like the Mosel, where the vines are best positioned to catch more of the sun, where the river helps mediate temperatures and reflects light onto the vine, and where the schist and slate soils trap daytime heat and radiate it back to the vines at night. These sites more dependably produce the ripest fruit and, by extension, the best wines and that is how you begin to build a reputation.
That riper = better formula formed the basis for German wine law and gave rise to the prädikat system which appreciates and rewards riper fruit and richer wines…sort of!
Kabinett:
This is the first step and describes lighter, more delicate Rieslings picked earlier and so display higher levels of acidity relative to their sugar levels. Depending on your palate, these will taste off-dry to medium-sweet, but they should always be delicate and fine, racy and intense. Alcohols will range from 7-12% vol.
Try: Moselland Riesling Kabinett. This isn’t a single vineyard wine, it’s not even a single village, but this co-operative at Bernkastel are Riesling experts and this is a perfect example of the Kabinett style, offering up those white orchard fruits, fruit blossom, and a little peachiness. Off-dry, lively, bright and crisp, it’s a nice drop on its own and also goes down well with a Friday night curry!
Spätlese:
Literally meaning ‘late-harvest’, these wines are picked later, the grapes have accumulated more sugars and while the acidity levels of Riesling are naturally high, the elevated sugars have a balancing effect. These wines will be medium-sweet but still bright and racy, with more depth and concentration. Alcohols will range from 7-10% vol.
Try: Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese . This wine from Weingut Hain comes from the ‘gold droplet’ vineyard in Piesport. This is true Piesport and an expression of a vineyard that produces gorgeously rounded wines with a subtle herbal quality, alongside a mix of ripe fruits and that pleasing late harvest richness.
Auslese:
This term means ‘select harvest’ and occurs when specific bunches are harvested as they reach an optimum level of ripeness beyond spätlese. These are sweet wines, still with the Riesling grape’s bright acidity and elegance, but they are much more powerful than Kabinett and much weightier. Alcohols tend to sit around 7.5% vol.
Try: Lenchen Riesling Auslese, Peter Jakob Kühn. It’s a special wine from a producer we have worked with for a long time, considered amongst the very best in Germany. This Auslese is rich and heady, enormously complex and bursting with the stickier yellows and orange, and more exotic fruits you find in Riesling from the Rheingau.
The Higher Prädikats:
Beerenasuslese (select berries rather than bunches) and Trockenbeerenauslese (selected dried or shrivelled berries), and Eiswein (ice wine) – where the berries/bunches must be naturally frozen on the vines, are all specialities, delicacies and rarities that are simultaneously sweet and rich, intense and racy, massively concentrated yet lifted and graceful. These are incredible wines that can cellar for many decades and in some cases, centuries.
Now the spanner in the works is that you can also have DRY versions of Kabinett, Spätlese, and Auslese. On top of that, there are categories for premier and grand cru wines – Erste Lage and Grosse Lage aka Erstes Gewächs and Großes Gewächs which must always be dry, with minimum alcohol levels of 11% and 12% respectively.
Aside from the classifications of style, German labels also detail the vineyard and village. Steps have been taken to simplify some of the language in recent years, but it is complicated for all of us. The information is always there, you just need to learn how to decode it!
Essentially, Riesling can be whatever you want it to be from bone dry to lusciously sweet, still, sparkling, and everything in between. But it is fair to say certain regions have their archetypes.
Riesling and Food
Because Riesling can produce such a wide range of styles it must be considered as the most food-friendly wine. Naturally high levels of acidity cuts through fat and refreshes the palate. The intensity of Riesling, whilst also remaining delicate, sometimes even ethereal, means it can cope with similarly intense, flavour-packed dishes without clashing and the off-dry styles are so useful when it comes to spicier dishes.
Seafood: A lean, crisp dry style will work like Sauvignon or light unoaked Chardonnay and will match with white or oily fish equally well. Think of Riesling as you might a squeeze of lemon (or lime). Mussels, clams, and prawns, especially with some southeast Asian flavours are perfect with a delicate Kabinett, or Austrian Federspiel, or even a fresh young dry Riesling from South Australia or New Zealand.
Richer dishes: For dishes that might bring in a buttery or creamy sauce, you just step up the weight a touch – I’d suggest a fuller Trocken that maybe sees some time in oak from the Rheingau or Pfalz in Germany, or look to Alsace or Austria.
Cold meats: Riesling should be a go-to for cold cuts and all forms of pâté – ham hock and Riesling is a wonderful pairing be it dry or off-dry, I think it’s the pickle-like nature of sweet and sour… and the sweeter examples of Spätlese make for unusually good foils for duck and goose – the extra weight and richness works well together.
Cheese: Spätlese is a versatile option for the cheeseboard, especially firmer cheddar styles or stronger flavoured semi-soft cheeses like Munster; Kabinett and lighter dry styles are good with younger, creamier cheeses, while Auslesen are great with blue cheeses. The very sweet styles of Riesling, whilst probably a dessert by themselves, do work well with fruit-based and creamy dishes.
Fruit dishes: If your dish needs that twist of acidity, then dry and off-dry Riesling will do the job. If your dish is something that would traditionally be served with some form of fruity accompaniment, then there will be a Riesling that can step in – Pork and Apple, Duck and Orange… that sort of thing!
Why Riesling
I love Riesling. That doesn’t mean I drink it all the time, but it’s what I reach for if I want something refreshing. I often joke that most of our Kabinetts should be sold in litre (or larger format) bottles because they do tend to disappear quickly at home, especially in the warmer months! Riesling was the first wine I bought to purposefully lay down for the future – Dr Loosen’s Erdener Prälat Riesling Auslese and I had built up a few vintages too, but the wilfulness of youth and a couple of late nights with friends and colleagues… those half bottles are sadly all gone and I often kick myself for that. Gradually, I’m building up some proper reserves across the various styles and they will be enjoyed at a calmer pace, once they’ve developed in the cellar (in the way those Prälats never had chance to!)
And that is another reason to give Riesling a proper go. As I testified above, they can be hard to resist as young wines, but they age ever so well. A good quality Kabinett can cellar for decades, and the best of the sweetest styles can be immortal. Riesling goes through some fascinating changes as it develops – I think of pears and apples becoming more cooked or bruised in character; you find more yellow fruits like dried apricots and plums, and ‘stickier’ exotic flavours that coalesce into creamy, nutty notes; and of course, the contentious element: kerosene. Or is it petrol? Or diesel? It’s hard to pin down, but Riesling, especially mature examples, develops aromatic compounds that we detect as kerosene and while that doesn’t sound obviously appealing, it’s fascinating. I remember a representative of a top producer in the Pfalz telling me the aroma is more akin to apricot kernels – he wouldn’t be moved on that, but I put it down to propaganda. That said, we all perceive things differently depending on our own experiences, so go and make your own mind up!
We will continue to beat a drum for Riesling, and we regularly make a feature of it in our focused tastings and supper clubs, so if you’re curious, those can be handy occasions to take a crash course. Remember, there is nothing wrong with a little sweetness and charm in a wine but if you really do prefer your wine properly dry, there is a Riesling for you!
