Wine & Drinks
Is Riesling the great grape of the Pacific Northwest?
By JOHN MARIANI
Washington State's Eroica, made by Chateau Ste. Michelle
When most people think of Riesling wines — if they think about them at all — the image of a cheap semisweet or sour wine in a tall, skinny green bottle may well come to mind from those days when such Rieslings from Germany and California were sold and packaged that way, to be drunk with pieces of Gouda cheese and sculpted radishes on the patio.
Yet the Riesling grape is a very noble varietal in Europe — the basis for the magnificent dessert wines of the Rhine Valley and the aromatic white table wines of Alsace. Now, however, some of the best Rieslings in the world are coming out of the Pacific Northwest, where the cooler climates are ideal for the varietal.
Indeed, Washington State's Eroica, made by Chateau Ste. Michelle, is considered one of the finest of American wines, and labels like Washington's Long Shadow; Oregon's Elk Cove, Ponzi, Viento, and Argyle; and Idaho's Ste. Chappelle are prize winners at national judgings every year.
The label on the A to Z Oregon Riesling reads "Aristocratic Wines at Democratic Prices"
I love the A to Z Oregon Riesling, whose label reads "Aristocratic Wines at Democratic Prices" (about $13). The 2006 was A to Z's first release and shows excellent promise for the varietal, revealing flinty slate mineral flavors of "wet stones," along with an enchanting, true Riesling floral aroma. It will certainly mature for the next several years.
Riesling sales are actually up 54 percent in the States the past three years. But the persistent problem for consumers is that there are too many styles — ice wine, late-harvest dessert wines, semisweet, and bone dry. At the annual international Riesling Rendezvous at Chateau Ste. Michelle last July, attended by 70 producers, Jim Trezise, president of the International Riesling Foundation, announced that more than 30 producers have decided to put a taste scale on their bottlings — from dry to sweet. That's going to be a big help.
A good Riesling is a beautiful wine, with bright tartaric acid levels that keep the wine sharp, and it picks up the specific minerality of its terroir. Riesling vines are very hardy and resist frost well but cannot bear intense heat, which makes the wines flat-tasting and one-dimensional. Dry and semi dry Rieslings are increasingly versatile with Pacific Rim food, especially salmon teriyaki, Japanese glazed eel, and spicy Indian food. The elixirlike sweet dessert Rieslings are another story for when the weather gets cool, the fireplace is lighted, and chestnuts pop in the pan.
• Click here to read John Mariani's gourmet report
Issue: January 2009
