Riesling Series: Intro

When I decided to do a blog post about Riesling, it took me about a week to gather my thoughts, then not much longer thereafter to realize there is no way I’m fitting riesling into one post - there is way too much to talk about, one could write a book. In fact, there are publications dedicated fully to Riesling. That’s when I decided to break the Riesling story into three parts.

In part I, we’ll explore together what is a dry wine vs sweet. We’ll get into the geeky side of wine and show some very simple formulas to help explain the concept of ripeness in a grape. We’ll talk about fermentation, harvest, maybe throw in a couple German words here and there. We’ll talk geology, geography, history. We’ll introduce Riesling, the queen of grapes, and talk about where it came from. We’ll learn about what it likes and dislikes. If there’s one thing you get out of part I, it should be that sweet wine does not equal bad wine. Sweet wine isn’t just for the ladies; it can be as bold and hearty, if not more, than your meatiest Bordeaux - if you can handle it!

Part II will be all things Germany. Together we will explore the history of Riesling in Germany, demystify the complex German classification system and learn how to read a German wine label. There will be lots of German to be thrown around but don’t be alarmed, it will be fun! We will literally break down the word trockenbeerenauslese and I promise it will make sense.

In Part III, we will go around the globe and explore Riesling through the lens of Australia, Austria, United States, Canada (They make wine over there?!), France, and others. We’ll delve into what Riesling smells like and tastes like in each territory and learn that tasting petroleum in wine is a thing.

By the end of the trilogy, you will know everything you need to know to enjoy all different kinds of Riesling. Join me in exploring one of my favorite grapes!