“Oh you like sweet wine?” The common question when I order a Riesling out with friends. “Oh no, this Riesling is dry…would you like to try some?” I reply. My friend shoots me a skeptical look and replies “no, I don’t like sweet wines.” I give an internal eye-roll (at least I hope it’s internal).
Lets get one one item off the table to to begin with. Some Rieslings are sweet. Some are not. They are all generally well balanced even if they are on the sweeter side because they have an high acidity which balances out the sweetness. However, a lot of the time when you taste a Riesling and think it’s sweet you are not tasting sugar, you are tasting FLAVOR. This is the magic of Riesling, how cool is it to taste honey in a bone-dry wine. You can really taste it without over-whelming viscosity or gobby sweetness.
Because I take personal offense to the general publics misunderstanding of Riesling (Perhaps its my high-school self really understanding what it’s like to be Riesling), I decided to organize an all Riesling tasting. I did a little research and learned some important Riesling facts.
- If a wine is sweet it is because of residual sugar. Sugar tuns to alcohol in wine via lactic acid fermentation (this is what you learned about along with the Krebs cycle in your bio class…but no one really cared about it as much). Wines that are sweeter have some residual sugar left, i.e. not all of the sugar turned to alcohol (this also means that these wines have less alcohol). The terms to know are: Dry: not sweet, Off-dry: has some sweetness, Sweet: pretty self explanatory. Sometimes people will say bone-dry just to make the point that it’s REALLY dry. See this post for a good explanation. If you look at the table on the wine curmudgeon site you can see that off-dry white can have anywhere from 10-30 grams/liter of sugar. That’s quite a range. The off-dry wines in this post probably have between 7-14 g/L of sugar.
- When looking for a German Riesling “Trocken” literally means dry in German, so if the Riesling says Trocken on it, it will be dry (it could still be dry even if it doesn’t say Trocken, but its a sure thing if it’s labeled this way).
- Alsace Rieslings can be a little trickier to figure out, a quick googling of the wine will probably tell if you it’s dry, or, a lot of the time looking on the back of the wine may give you some info. One general rule of thumb is that the “grand cru’s” may be sweeter, this isn’t always true but seems to be a lot of the time.
- American Rieslings are often off-dry to sweet, but they will generally be labeled somewhere on the bottle. Again a well balanced off-dry Riesling is not something to be afraid of (like the Kung fu girl Riesling in this tasting), it’s delightful and not overly sweet.
I did a fair amount of research before heading to Total Wines just over the state line in Delaware. This is the kind of store where you need to know what your looking for when you go in. They have ALL THE WINE, which also means they have crappy wine. If you don’t know what you’re doing it’s a safer bet to go to a small wine store with a helpful and enthusiastic owner (as someone who lives in Philadelphia I have to drive far–like to a different state–to find this….which is why I do research). Here is what I ended up with along with tasting notes and general thoughts and feelings from those tasting (my mother and sister, boyfriend, brother-in-law, me, and my sisters neighbors).
- Albrecht Riesling Tradition 2015. $18.99
This is an Alsace (i.e. French) Riesling and a real crowd pleaser.Everybody at the tasting loved this wine. It’s bone dry and very well balanced. The taste of honey is upfront (without a honey like viscosity), and quickly goes to a nice crisp finish. After the tasting everyone wanted a second pour of this. I’d serve it on a Friday night with roast chicken, or on a warm summer day outside with grilled chicken or seafood. It’s also great to drink on its own. It’s a sure bet if you’re having people over, “what is this wine?” they will ask you “It’s a Riesling!” you’ll respond, a puzzled look will come over your guest’s face as they ask for more…mind blown.
- Exception Riesling. $22.99
This is also an Alsace, and was the wild-card wine and really came through in that sense. I couldn’t find anything about this wine on the internet. It said dry on the label and that was about all I knew about it. It tasted like a California Chardonnay. It was oaky and full bodied, nice drinking because, like all Rieslings, it had a good acidity to balance it’s flavor. Not everyone will like this wine, my sister loved it (if you have a friend who likes Sonoma-Cutrer or La Crema Chardonnay they will like this). It’s definitely not a typical Riesling but was super interesting and added something different to the tasting. I’m not sure I will be buying at again (it was also the most expensive wine in the bunch), but if I was having my dad and sister over I may just to surprise them.
- Gerd Anselmann Pfalz Riesling Trocken. $15.99
Another crowd-pleaser. Bone-dry with green apple flavors, again, very balanced with a wonderful acidity. Our tasters were generally torn over whether they liked this one or the first (Albrecht) better. This is very typical of a German Riesling full of flavor. I will definitely be buying this again. I’d take it to an Asian BYOB (we have a lot of those in Philly) or have it with my home-made general tso’s chicken…I might even pull it out with some buffalo wings and call it “a night of Mary’s favorites”. Long-story short, drink this with something spicy and be happy.
- Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Gunterslay Riesling 2013. $19.99
It’s a mouthful to say and a mouthful to drink! This is also a german Riesling, it’s from Mosel (Mosel is to Riesling what Napa is to Cab Sauv…the place to be from if you’re a Riesling). It’s the first off-dry wine that we drank, and was absolutely delish. This wine had notes of honey, and hay it had some residual sugar in it, which could be sensed in the mouthfeel but it was balanced by a nice acidity (I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but this is what makes Rieslings so good and drinkable). This wine tasted much better super cold, after we all had a taste I put it back in the fridge and kept it there. You could drink this with spicy Asian food too, or serve it as an Aperitif on its own. Even the “I only like dry” wine drinkers enjoyed this wine despite the presence of some sugar. I imagine it in a bucket of ice, on a hot day sitting and enjoying a fabulous view with fabulous people who are all enamored with their new love of Riesling.
- Charles Smith Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2015. $11.29
This was the lone American in the bunch (not for lack of trying…I literally fell on the floor digging through the Chateau Ste. Michelle Rieslings looking for the dry Riesling–which I’d read a lot about–but they only had off-dry and sweet, which was not what I was looking for). I was super excited about trying this wine, it’s been written about a lot recently and was on almost all of the “drink these wines with Thanksgiving ” posts last Thanksgiving (I’m a sucker for Alsace, though, and went with an Alsace blend instead). This was also off-dry, but it tasted less sweet that the Mosel Riesling. It had two distinct tastes, honey up front, balanced by a subtle acid and dry finish. This was my boyfriends favorite wine (and that was before I told him the price!). For the price it can’t be beat, drink this with your Tuesday night take out instead of a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, you’ll be amazed at how much better it goes. I need to always have this wine in my fridge, when my boyfriend has had a bad day and wants gross chinese take-out, I’ll make it palatable with this little gem.
Riesling! It’s well balanced, drink-able, and crowd-pleasing. It may be off-dry, bone-dry, or even sweet, but will always be lovely. Drink some tonight on your deck with some spicy Asian food and experience the joy it brings! If you try one be sure and leave a comment, I want to know your thoughts and what and who you drank it with!
I’m off to make my first Seder plate (because that’s the kind of Shiksa I am…the good kind). We’ll be drinking a 2012 Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon with leg of lamb (I don’t know if that’s traditional…but I’m leaving the bacon out). More about that in a post to come! Cheers!