Today’s German Riesling hints at its greatness of yore
As you may expect, I get various texts and emails from friends saying things like “I’m not a Chardonnay guy, but this one is really good ... ” and asking my opinion. There are a couple of variables at play here that every reader needs to think about.
Firstly, a wine you don’t like today will not likely offer the same flavour profile in 10 years. Winemaking is a fashion industry and the wine flavour profiles are always changing. This is true even in the most conservative appellations.
Secondly, you too are always changing. Your sense of what “tastes good” will absolutely change between age 15 to 30 and just as surely from age 30 to 50. And likely from 50 to 70 as well. (I’ll report back when I have a personal set of experiences in this category.)
So before you flip to the Wonderword, let’s rethink German Riesling.
Once upon a time, German Riesling was all the rage and the most expensive wine in the world. The British Royal Family loved the stuff and Mosels and Hocks cost the Earth. It held market share until two world wars made all things German less fashionable. The Germans drink enough of the stuff themselves that for a long time they didn’t notice.
In the last decade, winemakers noticed they are losing market share and even entire markets. The result has been that the more forward-thinking German winemakers have started to shake up their industry. It’s still Riesling, of course. It’s just not your grandmother’s Riesling.
Some of the labelling no longer requires an MA in German literature to decode. German design is as modern as it gets and the winemakers have actually listened to graphic designers. (Der schrecken!) Take, for example, my Wine of the Week, Selbach Incline. Labels don’t get any more stylish.
This is the most “old fashioned” of the wines reviewed today, only in that it is released a bit older and also allows the slightly musky bouquet of the Riesling grape through. (Some people, particularly younger adults, find muskiness a bit offputting.) Don’t let that put you off. The other aromas are slightly floral, lemon flowers and acacia, with a lovely citrus tang to them.
Riesling is first and always an acidic wine, which probably explains how you can eat the cream sauces Germans love. The palate has heft and balance with a good mineral finish, a perfect wine to sip with your schnitzel.
If you haven’t had a Riesling for a while, it is time to fry some shrimp with chilies and cilantro and kick back with a truly fine wine.
WINE OF THE WEEK
Selbach Incline 2014, $19
Other choices:
Gunderloch Fritz’s Riesling 2015, $19 Pieroth Riesling Qualitatswein 2015, $19
Merlot next week. Other wine news on twitter.com/drbooze