Right on Apstein!!

Checking out the usual food and wine haunts and came across this article from the Boston Globe:Riesling's versatility is underappreciated

Being an advocate of all things riesling, I get excited when one of the 'big dogs' throws a bone to this grape. The article reads pretty well and hopefully it will get a few people to give it a try. But for the record, there were a few things that I would like to expand on:

"...riesling remains underappreciated because its extraordinary range, from the enamel-cleansing version of Alsace to the sweeter style of Germany, confuses consumers, who don't know whether they are opening a dry wine or a sweet one."

When making generalizations, it could be said that, as a rule Alsatian Riesling is dry, where as the German counterpart is not. Again, this is generalization. I have had more that a couple rieslings from France that had a healthy dose of residual sugar. This is not a bad thing and I'm not talking about 'Vendanges Tardives' either. (These wines are often referred to as 'V.T.' and they are 'late harvest' grapes that produce sweet, dessert wines similar to those from Germany and other parts of France.) And as far as the Germans are concerned, I have commented once or twice on the (relatively) new trend of fermenting their rieslings dry. In speaking with winemakers and winery reps alike, the impetus seems to be at least two-fold:
1. They see the success that Alsace is enjoying and have begun mirroring their style.
2. The 'younger set' in Germany seems to like 'dry' riesling moreso than the alternative.
I'm not a big fan of this practice in Germany and do hope that it doesn't last long, or at the very least, stays in the minority. I drink German rieslings because of what they are - residual sugar, blazing acidity and all. The same goes for rieslings from Alsace. The two are different. And that's good. No wine producing region should aspire to be all things to everybody.

Unencumbered by oakiness, their 2002 version is lively and bone dry. Its fruitiness, coupled with refreshing acidity, makes it an ideal foil for roast pork, but it's priced so you can also enjoy it with take-out Chinese.

I think this is an intersting choice of words. Tom (at Fermentations) and Huge (at huge johnsons world of wine) among others, have waxed eloquent on this a few times as it pertains to California wines and I suppose I never really thought about how it pertains to riesling. The truth is that the vast majority of riesling (both from France and Germany) never gets anywhere near an oak barrel. They are fermented in stainless steel and most (especially Germans) are made in a manner known as 'reductive fermentation'. In short, this is the practice of 'doing' as little as possible to the wine from harvest through to bottling. The wines see little if no oxygen, oak is even a thought, and fining/filtration are nominal at best. The end result is a wine that, for lack of a better term, is 'lively'. This may not make all that much sense until you consider the other end of the spectrum. Think about 'Barolo' from Italy or a 'Grand Reserva' from Spain. These wines taste old. Mostly because they are. But also because of the process by which they are made. These wines are aged from 3-5 years in barrel/cask and then aged even longer once they are bottled. A riesling made through 'reductive fermentation' could be considered the antithesis of Barolo.

The long and short of it is this: Drink riesling, damnit!! If you think that myriad vineyards of Burgundy can produce an equal array of flavors from the same grape, you haven't seen nothing. Second, the 'un-oaked' thing seems to be all the craze (something I agree with, by the way), so riesling should be a shoe-in. Trust me, oak is the last desciptor that will come to mind. And last, the wines go with just about everything, maybe short of a dry aged ribeye. Think about it, what comes to mind when you think of German food? (a quick poll of my neighbors on DeSoto yielded Brats and Sauerkraut.) I don't know if they eat this stuff or not, but I would imagine that meat plays a significant role in the average menu. And I would assume that (like most everywhere else in the world) the wines are made to go with food.

So there you go.