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Rieslingwhite Wine
Riesling
Riesling
Riesling is a white grape variety and varietal names of wines grown historically in Alsace, Austria, Germany, and north Italy. It is a very old grape, first documented in the year 1435, in which year the storage inventory of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen lists the sale of six barrels of Riesling from a Rüsselsheim vintner. Rieslings are thought to be a good wine for early wine connoisseurs, not to say that wine drinkers of all levels of experience arent free to enjoy this delectable vintage.
The most expensive wines that come from Riesling grape are late harvest dessert wines, this is acheived by letting the grapes hang on well past their normal picking time. Through evaporation caused by the fungus whose latin name is Botrytis cinerea or noble rot to the layman or by freezing, as in the case of ice wine, water is removed and resulting in a far sweeter wine. These concentrated wines have more sugar (in extreme cases hundreds of grams per liter), more acid (to give balance to all the sugar), more flavors, etc. Due to its concentration, late-harvest Riesling has the longest life of all wines.
The beneficial use of noble rot was discovered in the late 1700s at Schloss Johannisberg when the permission from the Abbey of Fulda, to start picking the grapes arrived too late, the grapes had begun to rot, yet it turned out that the wine made from them was still of excellent quality and had actually exceeded current expectations
The Riesling grape grows best in relatively cool climates. Riesling from Germany are normally sweet to medium sweet, but those from france and Austria are more dryer or just off-dry. Late Harvest Rieslings can ripen to become very sweet dessert wines such as beerenauslese and trockenbeerenauslese. Dry German Rieslings have been increasingly popular in Germany in recent decades, and are labeled as trocken. Other names for true Riesling - though these are only used in the United States - are Johannisberg Riesling (named after the famed Schloss Johannisberg), White Riesling and Rhine Riesling.
Many grapes that incorporate the name Riesling are not true Riesling. For example, Grey Riesling is actually Trousseau Gris, an unrelated grape. Schwarzriesling ("black Riesling") is also known as Pinot meunier, a grape also used to make Champagne.
Riesling is also grown in the other areas, such as Australia where the grape produces a distinctive crisp, dry and fruity tasting wines. The Clare Valley and Eden Valley are both renowned for the quality of their Australian Riesling. In the US, Riesling is usually grown in cooler regions, such as north California, New York, Michigan and Ontario, and shows promise in the Pacific Northwest. It is also grown in cooler regions of New Zealand and South Africa, and the quality is improving significantly in the New World as more suitable sites are found and better quality vines are being planted.
Wine Regions that produce Riesling
German Riesling
Riesling is on record as being planted in the Alsace region by 1477 when its quality was praised by the Duke of Lorraine. Today it has become the Alsace’s dominating grape varietal with the wine here being very different from neighboring German Riesling. This is due to a slight difference in the soil with the clay Alsatian soil being more dominately calcareous then the slate composition of Rheingau. The key differences come in how the wines are made, with the Alsatian preferring more french-oriented methods that produce wines of higher alcohol content and more roundness due to longer time spent aging in the barrel.
Rieslings produced in german vinyards tend to be very dry with a cleansing acidity. They are thick bodied wines that coat the palate. These wines have exceptionally good longevity somewhere in the region of approximately 20 years. This is beneficial since the flavors in an Alsace wine will change into a far sweeter and fruitier wine, this would usually take around 3-4 years.
Australian and New Zealand Riesling
In 1820 the first reference to Riesling in Australia came from William Macarthur who planted 20 acres of the grape near Penrith in New South Wales. Riesling was the most planted white grape in Australia up until the early 1990s when Chardonnay took over its popularity stance. Riesling still flourishes in the Clare Valley, in particular around theWatervale area and Polish Hill River as well as the cooler Eden Valley where some sparkling Riesling is made.
The Tempred Australian climate produces grapes with a thicker skin, sometimes even as much as 7 times as thick as its German counterparts. The grapes ripening in free drain soil composed of red soil over limestone, produces a lean wine that as it matures produces a toasty and zesty lime flavour. It is common practice for Australian Rieslings to be fermented at lower temperatures in stainless steel tanks with no oxidation of the wine and followed by earlier bottling.
The 1st Riesling vines were planted in New Zealand in the mid 70s and since then has flourished in the relatively cool climate of the Marlborough area and for late harvests in the Nelson region. In comparison to Australian Riesling, New Zealand produces lighter and more delicate wines that range from sweet to dry.
Austrian Riesling
Riesling is the second leading white grape varietal after the indigenous Grüner Veltliner, Austrian Riesling is for the most part full bodied, coating the palate and producing a strong aray of flavours enhanced with a mouthwatering aroma, a particular Austrian Riesling trademark includes hints of white pepper. It flourishes in the cool climate and free-draining granite and mica soil of the Wachau region where Austrian wine laws allow for irrigation. This wine is normally around 13%, it is has a relatively high alcohol content for Rieslings after about 5 years of storeage it reaches its best.
North American Riesling
German immigrants brought the Johannisberg Riesling vines with them to america in the late19th century, Riesling named to qualify them as “legitimate” German Riesling. The Finger Lakes region of New York was one of the earliest american producers of Riesling, vines started to appear in California by the mid 1800s and was followed by Washington in approximately 25 years later
New York Riesling has a light body which is complemented with a light, mellow flavor and ranges from dry to sweet. New York is also a producer of Riesling based Ice Wine, although a large majority of New York Ice Wine is made from Vidal Blanc and Vignoles.
In California, Riesling pales in comparison to Chardonnay there are only a few vinards actually plant the vines,the only exception is the production of high quality Late Harvest dessert wines, the most successful of which is the Anderson and Alexander Valleys, where the weather is more likely to precipitate the onset of the fungus needed for the grapes to attain there sweetness. The Riesling that comes out of California is softer, fuller, and having more flavors than a "typical" German Riesling.
In the Pacific Northwest there is an extreme contrast in Riesling production, the grape is currently on its way up in Washington State and on the decline in neighboring state of Oregon. Riesling from this area ranges from dry to sweet, and has a crisp lightness that bodes well for easy drinking. Often there will be an easily detectable peach and mineral complex. Some winemakers in Washington State, such as Chateau Ste. Michelle, are adapting German style Riesling production methods, and even partnering with well-known German vintners like Dr. Ernest Loosen to create specialty wines such as the Eroica Riesling.
Riesling Wine Production
Riesling grapes need careful handling during harvesting, to avoid crushing or bruising the skin due to the delicate nature of the grape. Without due care and attention, the broken skins would leak tannin into the juice, giving a distinctly rough taste and the Riesling just wouldnt have its unique range of flavors and aromas.
A wine that is best at its “freshest” states, the grapes and juice may be chilled often throughout the vinification process. Once, right after picking to preserve the grapes' more delicate flavors. Second, after it has been processed through a bladder press and right before fermentation. During fermentation, the wine is cooled in temperature controlled stainless steel fermentation tanks kept between 50-65F. (Unlike red wines that normally ferment at 75-85F)
Unlike its more popular counterpart Chardonnay, most Riesling do not undergo malolactic fermentation, this helps preserve the tart, acidic characteristic of the wine that gives Riesling its “thirst-quenching” quality.
Riesling is often put through a process of cold stabilization, where the wine is quickly chilled to just above the freezing point. The wine is kept at this temperature until much of the tartaric acid has crystallized and precipatated out of the wine. After this, the wine is normally filtered again to remove any remaining yeast or impurities.
The two main components in growing Riesling grapes are to keep the temperature low, the ideal situation for Riesling is a climate that allows for a long, slow ripening and proper pruning to keep the yeild low and the flavor concentrated.
Riesling with Food
Riesling works well with food, because of its balance of sugar and acidity. It pairs well with white fish, or pork, and it is one of the few wines that can stand up to Thai and Chinese cuisine. Riesling's aromas easily detectable as they are of tropical fruits, flowers and mineral stone. If stored well, this wine can keep for an incredible number of time at last count it was in and around 105 years under optimum conditions, It is almost never oaked, which tends to lighten its profile and increase its suitability with many foods.
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