Riesling - Another Noble White Grape

Riesling grapes originated in Germany and are considered one of the 'noble' grape varieties for wine making. Riesling is Germany’s leading grape variety and it is considered one of the grape varieties that best expresses the terroir of the soil where it is grown and it is very well suited for slate and sandy clay soil.

It produces elegant wines with high acidity and grows in very cool climates. Riesling wines are known for their fresh fruit flavors, they have the ability to produce wines that run from bone dry to very sweet but are usually made in dry or semi-dry styles. It has peach and honeysuckle notes and can develop a mineral-like 'petrol' nose as it ages.

Riesling does best in cool climates and is very resistant to frost. It is planted very widely in the northern European growing regions but is less popular in other areas of the world.

Some of the finest sweet wines in the world can be made from Riesling that has been affected by Botrytis Cinerea - this is a mold that attacks the skin of the grape and concentrates the sugars in the grape by allowing the water to evaporate. This is especially true in the Moselle and Rhine river valleys of Germany as well as the Alsace of France. These wines are sweet, wonderful and tend to be expensive.

Three common characteristics of German Riesling are They are rarely blended with other varietals Rarely ever exposed to commercial yeast Usually never exposed to oak flavor to save its specific tart citrus flavor. In Germany, sugar levels at time of harvest is an important consideration in the wine's production with prädikat levels measuring the sweetness of the wine. As equally important to winegrowers is the balance of acidity between the green tasting malic acid and the more citrus tasting tartaric acid. In cool years, some growers will wait until November to harvest in hopes of having a higher level of ripeness and subsequent tartaric acid.[25] Before modern times, the low winter temperatures in the northern German regions would halt fermentation and leave the resulting wines with natural sugars and a low alcohol content. Every region has its own tradition of wine production, for example in the area of Mosel the wine is usually bottled in tall, green hock bottles. The most prestigious brand of Riesling is the Müller-Thurgau, made in Geisenheim since 1882. Green - Mosel Brown - Rhine Similar bottles, although brown, are used for Riesling produced in the Rhine region. Riesling is also the preferred grape in production of Deutscher Sekt, German sparkling wine. Riesling wines from Germany cover a vast array of tastes from sweet to off-dry halbtrocken to dry trocken. Late harvest Rieslings can ripen to become very sweet dessert wines of the beerenauslese (BA) and trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) class. Appellations producing the most Riesling wines in the USA: Finger Lakes (AVA) Willamette Valley (AVA) Niagara Peninsula (DVA) Pennsylvania (State Appellation) America (Country Appellation) Lake Erie (AVA) Columbia Valley (AVA) Old Mission Peninsula (AVA) Okanagan Valley (DVA) Yakima Valley (AVA)